8th Sep 2015 07:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hilton Food Group PLC Tuesday reported a slight rise in profit in the first half of its financial year, although revenue fell and it said that profit growth was not as strong as it could have been due to movements in foreign exchange rates.
The meat packaging business reported a rise in pretax profit in the 28 weeks ended July 12 to GBP13.2 million from GBP13.1 million the year before, although revenue fell 2.2% to GBP579.2 million from GBP592.3 million.
Hilton said that revenue was hit by adverse currency translation movements as well as challenging trading conditions in Sweden and Denmark, which also meant that growth in profit wasn't as strong as it could have been.
Hilton will pay an interim dividend of 4.1 pence, up 7.9% on the 3.8p it paid the prior year.
The company said that negative currency translation may continue to harm trading and that pressure from tight consumer expenditure is expected to remain a feature in Europe over the remainder of 2015, but that it nevertheless expects results for the full year to be in line with the board's expectations.
"We have achieved good growth despite challenging market conditions in some countries, with profitability at constant exchange rates increasing strongly. Strategically we continue to make sound progress, with the major capital investments made in the UK and Sweden in 2014 now bedded in and the new facility in Victoria, Australia having commenced production. Our aim continues to be to extend the geographic reach of the Hilton model and to explore and evaluate new expansion opportunities as they arise," Chief Executive Robert Watson said in a statement.
Shares in Hilton Food Group were trading up 1.2% at 425.00 pence at the open on Tuesday.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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