Greencore delivers tasty fourth quarter results

28th Jan 2014 07:16

- Solid revenue growth over final quarter- Strong US performance, UK markets improving - Confident of meeting full-year forecastsConvenience store producer Greencore recorded solid revenue growth over the Christmas period and said it remains confident of meeting full-year forecasts. The Irish-founded company, which makes ready meals, sandwiches and quiches, recorded revenue of £320.5m for the 13 weeks to December 27th 2013, an increase of 7.2% from the previous year. On a like for like (LFL) basis, excluding the desserts business, which was sold in January 2013, revenue growth was 9.0%.It added that final quarter momentum continued into the first quarter of this year. Final quarter revenue at the Convenience Foods division rose 6.9% to £305.6m on a reported basis. UK LFL revenue up 7.2% on the prior year while in the US, constant currency revenue was 26.2% higher than the prior year, boosted by the start of the Starbucks supply agreement."While the overall grocery retail environment remains challenging, the small store format continues to exhibit strong growth aiding our food to go activity," the group commented.The Ingredients and Property division saw revenue increase 13.7% to £14.9m."The group remains well positioned as a focused and disciplined convenience foods business in its chosen markets of the UK and US. Economic conditions in the UK are steadily improving. While this improvement has yet to be seen in larger grocery stores, we are seeing more buoyant activity in small stores and in product categories which perform well in these stores, such as food to go," Greencore said in a company statement. Greencore said its financial position remains strong with good headroom within existing debt facilities.CJ