Greencore lifts FY guidance again after strong Q4

Convenience food producer Greencore lifted full-year profit guidance again after a strong fourth quarter performance.

The company, which makes sandwiches, soups and ready meals, on Tuesday said it expected adjusted operating profit of £95m-97m for the 12 months to September 27, up from a prior range of £88m-90m in July, which itself was an increase on the second quarter.

Like-for-like revenue growth in the final three months was up 3.7% and 3.4% for the year.

"This was as a result of continued strong focus on improving returns across our portfolio, other commercial initiatives and enhancing operational efficiency for key areas, such as labour and waste, across our network," Greencore said.

"Our critical group-wide technology transformation programme is now well established, and our adjusted operating profit range is impacted by £2.5m of costs in the second half related to that project that will be treated as an exceptional item rather than an operating expense."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com