Good Progress by Greencore
Greencore, the UK and international convenience food producer, has increased revenue by 0.9% to £572.9 million in the first half ended 29 March 2013 with growth in its Convenience Foods division of 1.8% to £542.1 million. However, growth rates in the group’s core markets in the UK were lower than in the prior year, even before the impact of the horsemeat scandal on the ready meals category. Despite this, group operating profit increased by 6.3% to £33.7 million as Greencore maintained good operating and financial discipline and delivered improvements in returns in lower margin businesses.
During the first half of 2013, Greencore built on the transformation the business underwent in the 2012 financial year. In the UK, the integration of the Uniq acquisition was completed with the transfer of all premium desserts production to the refurbished Evercreech facility and the disposal of the Minsterley facility. The integration of International Cuisine is also progressing well.
Patrick Coveney, chief executive of Greencore.
Greencore holds strong market positions in the UK convenience food market across food to go, chilled prepared meals, chilled soups and sauces, ambient sauces & pickles, cakes & desserts and Yorkshirepuddings.
In the US, where Greencore is building a fast growing food to go business serving both the convenience and small store channel and the grocery channel, MarketFare and Schau have been integrated and, since the end of April, Greencore has been supplying Starbucks from four of its six facilities there.
“We have made good progress on our strategic agenda during the first half of the year, despite the fact that market conditions throughout the period proved very challenging,” says Patrick Coveney, chief executive of Greencore. “However the UK retail environment remains under severe pressure and this was exacerbated in Q2 by the horsemeat scandal, which has temporarily driven the ready meals market lower. Although we expect market conditions to remain tough, we remain confident in our ability to deliver adjusted EPS growth for the financial year in line with expectations.”
