Premier Foods lifts dividend as full-year profits jump

18th May 2023 07:51

(Sharecast News) - Mr Kipling and Oxo owner Premier Foods lifted its dividend on Thursday and posted a jump in full-year profits despite a "challenging" environment, as hard-up consumers stocked up on instant noodles.

In the year to 1 April 2023, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 13% to £137.2m, with revenue up 11.8% to £1bn. Branded revenue was up 9.1%, while non-branded revenue was 28.3% higher.

Trading profit rose 11.5% to £157.5m and Premier lifted the dividend by 20% to 1.44p per share.

The company said it had successfully offset "exceptionally high" input cost inflation through a combination of cost efficiencies and pricing.

Chief executive Alex Whitehouse said: "We know that consumer budgets remain under pressure in the current environment and our broad portfolio of brands continue to provide great options to prepare and eat good value, delicious meals at home.

"We are continuing to see consumers looking for convenient, affordable and tasty meal solutions and Batchelors and Nissin were two of our best branded performers in the year which benefitted from this trend. Batchelors, well known for its tasty Super Noodles, has now become our largest grocery brand, increasing revenues by over 20% this year."