17th May 2016 08:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Premier Foods PLC on Tuesday reported a narrowed pretax loss in its recently-ended financial year and raised its sales growth guidance for the current year, as a managing director from Nissin Foods Holdings Co joined the Premier board as a non-executive director.
Premier, which makes brands including Bisto gravy, Homepride cooking sauces and Mr Kipling cakes, said its pretax loss in the year ended April 2 narrowed to GBP13.0 million from GBP135.6 million the year before, although revenue fell to GBP771.7 million from GBP964.3 million due to the transition of the company's financial year-end.
The comparative period runs from January 1, 2014 to April 4, 2015 and therefore includes an additional 95 days.
Profit in financial 2016 was helped by administrative costs more than halving to GBP112.6 million from GBP242.4 million, while the GBP83.9 million property and goodwill impairment costs booked in the prior year also did not repeat in financial 2016.
On an underlying basis, group sales grew by 0.6%, as revenue growth from non-branded products offset flat revenue from branded goods. Sales in the Grocery division slipped to GBP548.6 million from GBP551.7 million, but Sweet Treats sales rose to GBP223.1 million from GBP215.7 million.
Premier raised its guidance for full-year sales growth for financial 2017 to between 2% and 4%.
In a separate statement, Premier said it has appointed Tsunao Kijma as a non-executive director under the terms of its relationship agreement with Japan's Nissin Foods.
Kijma is chief strategic officer at Nissin, prior to which he was executive vice president at Mitsubishi Corp.
Premier and Nissin signed the agreement in April, under which it was agreed that Nissin would have the right to appoint a non-executive director to Premier's board so long as Nissin holds an interest of at least 15% in Premier.
Nissin, which invented the instant noodle, bought a 17% stake in Premier from private equity group Warburg Pincus for 63.00 pence per share in March.
"The potential opportunities presented by our partnership with Nissin are also very exciting. The board is focused on delivering shareholder value and we see a strong future for Premier Foods with its leading category positions, great brands and strong operational cash flows," Premier's Chief Executive Gavin Darby said in a statement.
Shares in Premier were trading up 3.2% at 40.50 pence on Tuesday.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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