16th May 2018 06:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Moody's Investor Service said Tuesday that Premier Foods PLC's results of its most recently ended financial year and its intent to refinance its GBP325 million senior notes with a new GBP300 million bond is credit positive.
For the year to March-end, Premier Foods recorded pretax profit of GBP20.9 million, up from GBP12.0 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose to GBP819.2 million from GBP790.4 million the year before.
Premier Foods, in its annual results released on Tuesday, also said it would purchase all outstanding GBP325.0 million senior secured notes due 2021 by issuing GBP300 million in new senior secured notes due 2023. Proceeds from the new notes would go towards completing its refinancing.
Moody's cautioned that a longer track record of a stabilised performance would be needed before the outlook on Premier Foods' ratings could be changed, which currently stands at B2 negative.
"The negative outlook on Premier Foods' ratings still reflects a degree of uncertainty on the company's capability to fully withstand the currently difficult market conditions for UK food producers," said Moody's Analyst Paolo Leschiutta.
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