McBride revenues rise as it moves back towards breakeven

The London-listed company's adjusted operating losses for the six months ended 31 December narrowed to £1.3m, from a loss of £14.8m in the same period a year earlier.

Net debt remained steady at £169.4m, with liquidity a “comfortable” £58.9m.

McBride said its business and revenue momentum in the period was in line with its growth ambitions, reporting private label volume growth of 2.6% as it gained market share.

The board said cost-conscious consumers were supporting near-term growth, while sustained pricing growth had been delivered.

The firm also launched new products to support its product sustainability objectives, describing a good pipeline of business wins, while improved service levels were also reported.

McBride said its financial performance recovery was on track, with trading results close to breakeven and a recovery to positive EBITA in the final two months of the first half.

The company also saw strong margin recovery from pricing and product engineering, while its ‘Programme Compass’ was on track to deliver annualised savings of £20m.

“The first half year required continued high levels of attention to margin recovery in light of ongoing inflationary pressures,” said chief executive officer Chris Smith.

“Whilst there are some early signs of stabilisation in certain input costs, many raw material costs remain historically high.

“Energy and employment costs continue to apply further inflationary pressure, and accordingly, we continue to action mitigations including price increases, product engineering and cost control.”

Smith said it was “pleasing” to have returned to positive adjusted operating profit in the last two months of the period, with momentum improving into the second half as a result of higher volumes from new business wins, better customer service levels and pricing actions fully annualising.

“All of this is supported by consumer behaviour creating a more favourable environment for private label products.

“The transformation agenda, signposted as part of ‘Compass’, gathers pace with the appointment of the chief transformation officer, dedicated to the key change and improvement initiatives over the coming years.

“The group's core activities remain strong and the dedication of the entire McBride team to resolve the challenges confronting us is a strong demonstration of our values and the commitment to return the group to sustainable levels of profitability.”

At 0911 GMT, shares in McBride were down 0.71% at 23.83p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.