Chilled food helps Greencore beat chilly market

The convenience foods business announced yesterday (January 27) that key chilled markets had performed well, with continued good growth in the food-to-go market and a positive performance in chilled ready meals.

That had enabled it to resist the challenging grocery market, with negative same-store sales and price deflation, boosting UK revenue by 3.6% compared with last year’s Q1.

During the latest quarter, the firm said it had commissioned the extension to its existing Northampton sandwich facility​, with further product transfers due to take place by the end of this month. 

Strong US growth​

Greencore said it continued to enjoy strong US growth, with reported revenue up by more than a third (34.1%) on the same period last year and 19.5% up on a like-for-like basis. The performance had mainly been driven by the continued roll-out of products for one key customer.

The construction of its new facility in Rhode Island​ was nearing completion, with commissioning due to commence as planned in Q2, it said.

Greencore recorded group revenue of £331.9M in the 13 weeks to December 26 2014, an increase of 3.6% on the prior year on a reported basis and 4.4% on a like-for-like basis.

Convenience foods division​

Its convenience foods division chalked up revenue of £320.4M, 4.9% higher than the prior year on a reported basis and up 5.4% on a like-for-like basis.

Revenue for its ingredients and property division – now less than 5% of group activity – saw double digit decreases as it was hit by the reduction in the commodity price of edible oils, it said.

The company said it retained strong positions in growing product categories and predicted performance in line with market expectations for the rest of its financial year.

“Notwithstanding the challenges of the UK grocery retail market, the business has had a good start to the year with encouraging growth against a strong comparator period last year,”​ it stated.