Cranswick lifts full-year profit outlook

Food producer Cranswick said on Tuesday that adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to the end of March was set to be at the upper end of market consensus as it posted a jump in interim profit and revenue amid "resilient" demand.

Consensus expectations are for adjusted pre-tax profit of between £153.2m and £160.8m.

In the 26 weeks to 23 September, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 23.6% to £81.6m on revenue of £1.25bn, up 12.3% on the same period a year earlier.

Cranswick pointed to an effective inflation recovery and "resilient" volume growth across all four core UK food categories. It also said that a positive contribution from rapidly expanding pig farming operations, robust returns from effective deployment of capital and tight cost control had lifted the adjusted operating margin from 6.1% to 6.8%.

The company upped its interim dividend by 10.2% to 22.7p.

Chief executive Adam Couch said: "Momentum has continued through the start of the third quarter as our customers and the UK consumer continue to appreciate the affordability, value for money and versatility of our core pork and poultry categories.

"Our continued positive progress is made possible by the substantial ongoing investment in our asset base, expansion of our pig farming operations and the quality and capability of our colleagues across the business."