9th Jan 2020 08:38
(Alliance News) - Food packaging firm Hilton Food Group PLC on Thursday reported continued strong trading, with operations in Australia in particular doing well.
Shares in the FTSE 250 member were 6.5% higher in early trade in London at 1,120.62 pence each, making it one of the midcap index's best performers on Thursday.
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire-based Hilton said performance in the 52 weeks to December 29 met board expectations, with growth in sales and volumes on the prior year "strong".
Australia was the best performer, Hilton said, with year-on-year growth also strong. This reflects volumes from a new plant in Brisbane and higher volumes from the existing site in Victoria.
In Western Europe, Hilton has been boosted by a new contract seeing it package all of supermarket Tesco PLC's beef and lamb. Seachill, a Hilton subsidiary, benefited from a full year of working with Tesco's seafood unit as well as Waitrose's breaded products.
Chilled fish processor Seachill was purchased in October 2017 for GBP80.8 million.
Trading in the rest of Western Europe was "generally" good, Hilton continued. In Denmark, sales have continued to pick up, and although sales were slightly lower in Sweden and the Netherlands Hilton is still happy with performance.
Central Europe did well, Hilton said, while Dalco, its vegetarian and vegan business, has also "progressed well". Dalco has secured a number of new contracts, it added.
In its previous financial year, the UK made up just over half of Hilton's revenue. The Netherlands came next with 18%, Sweden with 13%, Denmark with 6%, while Australia made up 1%.
"Hilton's trading outlook remains positive, with significant growth prospects underpinned by the previously announced expansion plans in Australia, in Central Europe and subsequently in New Zealand, as well as further opportunities arising from the move into fish via the Seachill acquisition and the roll-out of vegetarian products," said Hilton.
"Hilton's financial position remains strong, underpinned by good operating cash flow and with incremental facilities to fund additional expansion opportunities. Hilton remains well placed to deliver continued growth over the medium term enhanced by further opportunities to develop our cross category business in both domestic and overseas markets," it added.
Hilton also said Thursday it will no longer be giving six financial updates per year, meaning there will be no half-year trading update in July. This, it said, is in line with a number of other FTSE 250 companies.
The firm will publish annual results on March 26.
By George Collard; [email protected]
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