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

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.