Premier Foods lifts FY profit expectations after strong first half

In the half year to the end of September, adjusted pre-tax profit jumped 21.2% to £56.9m on revenue of £484.4m, up 19.2% on the same period a year earlier. Trading profit grew 19% to £67.5m.

As a result of "strong momentum", the group now expects trading profit for this financial year to be around 10% ahead of the previous year.

Chief executive Alex Whitehouse said the company had "a really good start to the year".

"We delivered branded revenue growth of nearly 16%, again maintained our trading profit margins and we continue to grow faster than our markets, gaining 113 basis points of share in our grocery categories. This performance once again demonstrates the power of our branded growth model and the capabilities of our team," he said.

"New categories revenue increased by 21%, driven by Ambrosia porridge pots and our international business grew by 19%, with Mr Kipling building distribution in the USA and taking further market share in Australia."

Premier - which also owns the Ambrosia, Bisto and Batchelors brands, among others - had already said in July that full-year trading profit was set to be at the top end of market expectations after "a very encouraging start to the year".

At 0830 GMT, the shares were 3% higher at 134.95p.