Hilton Food trades in line after strong start to 2021

Hilton Food Group said trading so far in 2021 was in line with its expectations after a strong start to the year.

The food packing company reported growth across its markets. Demand increased in Europe with most countries under Covid-19 restrictions and home consumption of food up but there were extra costs linked to the pandemic.

In the UK, red meat turnover was up strongly from a year earlier and Hilton is moving sous vide production to its Huntingdon site to reduce costs and meet rising demand. Hilton Seafood volumes rose.

Scandinavian turnover rose though sales were held back in Sweden by a shortage of Swedish meat. Sales in Denmark were "augmented" with more sales of chicken products, the FTSE 250 company said.

Central Europe sales were strong with red meat and fresh food in demand. Australia has had some regional lockdowns and strong growth came from higher Queensland volume and the consolidation of results of the Bunbury and Truganina plants.

"Overall, trading has been in line with the board's expectations following a strong start to the year with momentum continuing in a number of markets," Hilton said in a statement before its annual general meeting. "Hilton continues to explore opportunities in which to invest and to grow the business both domestically and in overseas markets and we are also exploring a number of growth options with our existing customers."