Greencore warms up revenue, earnings in first half

International convenience food business Greencore Group reported an 8.1% jump in group revenue in its half-year report on Tuesday, to £691.6m.

On a constant currency basis, revenue at the FTSE 250 group in the 26 weeks to 25 March was up 7.5%.

Its core convenience foods business accounted for £667.9m of that revenue, a 7.8% improvement in constant currencies.

Group operating profit improved 8.5% during the period to £43.5m, while the group operating margin was unchanged from last year at 6.3%.

Adjusted earnings per share were up 7.9% to 8.2p.

During the period, Greencore’s board said there was “continued strong momentum across UK and US food-to-go activity, with like-for-like revenue growth of 12.7% well ahead of market performance.”

The company also confirmed that the second phase of its expansion at Northampton was completed on time with commissioning now underway, and phase three also progressing to plan.

Its Rhode Island plant was also now fully operational, and the Seattle build on track for an initial production run in June.

The board also said there was a “strong pipeline” of future growth opportunities.

"Greencore has performed strongly in the first half of the year,” said chief executive Patrick Coveney on the results.

“Our strategy of focusing on the UK and US food to go markets is working well and we are continuing to invest in capacity and capability initiatives to support the substantial future growth pipeline. We are confident of further progress in the months and years ahead."

Greencore’s board declared an interim dividend of 2.55p per share, an increase of 6.25% against a year ago.