Food manufacturer Greencore—which produces sandwiches for supermarket meal deals—has said it anticipates full year profit to be “ahead of current market expectations.”
In a trading update issued today, the convenience food firm, which supplies all the UK’s major supermarkets with salads, sushi, sandwiches, snacks, ready meals, and soups, said like for like revenue growth for the fourth quarter was up 3.7 per cent year on year, with full year growth also up 3.4 per cent.
It expects to report full year revenue of around £1.8bn after an “encouraging” fourth quarter on like for like volume performance, Greencore said.
While fourth quarter profit conversion was ahead of the group’s expectation, with full year adjusted operating profit now projected to be “ahead of current market expectations” of between £95m to £97m.
Dalton Philips, chief executive officer, said: “The Greencore team delivered an outstanding performance with our FY24 results now expected to exceed current market expectations.
“Providing high-quality, fresh and healthy food to our customers every day is at the heart of what we do. To all our colleagues who work tirelessly to make this happen I would like to say a huge thank you.”
He added: “As we enter the new financial year, our focus remains on making really great food, rebuilding our profitability, and positioning Greencore to be the UK’s leading convenience foods manufacturer.
“We’ll share more detail at our 2024 results in early December, and will use our capital markets day in early 2025 to outline our medium-term growth strategy.”
The Dublin-based firm will host an event for analysts and institutional investors in London on 5 February. Its full year results will be reported on 3 December.
Greencore, which also supplies convenience, coffee shops and travel retail outlets, said it had continued a “strong focus on improving returns across our portfolio”, including operational efficiencies in areas such as waste and among its 13,600 workers.