Greencore meeting expectations as revenue rises

GREENCORE REITERATED its full-year guidance yesterday after reporting like-for-like revenue growth of 6.7 per cent for the third quarter.

In an interim management statement, the company – which moved its listing to London earlier this year – said revenues were 49 per cent higher in the 13 weeks to the end of June compared with the same period last year, mainly due to the acquisition of British company Uniq.

Underlying revenue growth, excluding Uniq but including the recently acquired US business MarketFare, was 11 per cent. Excluding MarketFare, the figure was 6.7 per cent.

Greencore, which supplies convenience foods such as sandwiches, sushi and ready-meals to UK retailers, said its convenience foods division – which represents more than 90 per cent of revenue – experienced a revenue increase of 51.2 per cent compared to the previous year.

The legacy Greencore businesses recorded revenue growth of 6.6 per cent, led by an increase in volume, the company said.

The continuing Uniq businesses acquired by Greencore experienced underlying growth of 7.3 per cent, while the parts of Uniq’s desserts businesses which are being exited or sold by Greencore saw revenue decline by 52 per cent.

Greencore announced the sale of Uniq’s loss-making desserts business at Minsterley, in Shropshire, England, to Müller in June for £4.3 million (€5.5 million).

Growth in Greencore’s much smaller ingredients division increased by 5 per cent.

The Irish company bought British sandwich and dessert-maker Uniq, which is a major supplier to Marks Spencer, for £113 million just over a year ago.

In the UK, the queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations in May boosted sales, the company said yesterday, though demand in June was hit by bad weather.

Greencore reiterated its full-year outlook, noting that the company “continues to perform well despite the challenging and volatile market conditions”.

The Dublin-headquartered company, which derives more than 90 per cent of it sales from the UK, recently acquired two American convenience food companies, significantly increasing its presence in the US market.

In June, it bought US fresh-food manufacturer Schau for $13 million (€10.6 million) plus deferred cash consideration of $4.3 million.

This followed the acquisition of Arizona-headquartered MarketFare, a major supplier of food-to-go products to 7-Eleven stores, in April for $36 million.

Greencore finished down more than 2 per cent in London yesterday at 75.50 pence.