FDBusiness.com

Premier Foods has reported a 2.4% increase in group revenue to £366.7 million for the 26 weeks ended 28 September 2019 as Branded revenue rose by 4.3% to £309.7 million while Non-branded revenue fell by 6.8% to £57.0 million. Group operating profit was £35.9 million in the first half, compared to £28.3 million in the prior period. The growth was largely attributable to lower restructuring costs compared to the prior year and a lower charge for amortisation of intangible assets.

Premier Foods’ strategy is to drive sustainable and profitable revenue growth while delivering cost efficiencies to generate cash. The group recently changed its executive leadership team with three new appointments – chief customer officer, chief marketing officer and operations director. Consequently, the structure of the team has changed and resulted in the removal of the UK managing director and International managing director roles. The changes are expected to accelerate the pace and agility of decision making and streamline internal processes and reporting.

Alex Whitehouse.

Alex Whitehouse, chief executive of Premier Foods, comments: “In presenting my first set of results as CEO of Premier Foods I’m encouraged by our strong start to the year with total revenue up +2.4% and branded revenue ahead +4.3%. Our biggest brand, Mr Kipling, has continued its momentum from last year, with sales growth of +8% while sales of our Nissin branded ranges have more than doubled. We have launched a number of new product ranges including our new plant-based brand Plantastic and our International business returned to growth in Q2. Due to our strong cash generation, our net debt has reduced by £38.8 million compared to the same point last year.”

He continues: “I am also announcing a new executive leadership team structure which provides us with sharper consumer, customer and operational focus. Our operational strategy is unchanged, but we now have increased energy and impetus. We are targeting some largely operational cost savings over the next two years and we are on track to meet our net debt/EBITDA target of 3.0x by the end of this financial year. With a better H1 than planned, we are confident in our expectations for progress in the full year. As we look a little further ahead, and in light of our disciplined and consistent track record of Net debt reduction, we start to see options for our future deployment of cash.”