Finsbury Food says trading in line, revenue up 4% in first four months

Cake and bread manufacturer Finsbury said on Wednesday that trading in the first four months of the year has been in line with expectations.

Total group sales grew by 4% to £105.5m, which the company said was a "pleasing performance, which shows resilience and recognises that the UK retail food market has recently transitioned from a deflationary to an inflationary environment".

Sales in the UK bakery division were up 5% compared to the corresponding 2016/2017 period, while the overseas unit, the group's 50% owned European business, saw sales fall 3.8%.

"Having delivered strong cash flow during the period, the group is ideally positioned to maintain this focus, and the board is therefore confident that Finsbury is well-equipped to deliver growth and shareholder value going forward."

At 0940 GMT, the shares were up 2.2% to 105.80p.