Dublin-headquartered convenience food group Greencore has upgraded its full-year earnings guidance on the back of increased revenue and the “continued improvement in profit conversion”.
The UK’s largest sandwich-maker said it expects full-year adjusted operating profit to be in a range of £88 million to £90 million (€104.8m-€107.2m), ahead of both prior guidance of £86 million to £88 million and current market expectations.
The company said reported revenue fell by 6.1 per cent to £465.2 million for the third quarter (ending June 28th), reflecting the impact of the exit by Greencore from a number of low-margin contracts last year and the disposal of the Trilby Trading business. On a like-for-like basis, however, revenue was up 1.4 per cent.
Greencore noted manufactured volumes were “more subdued resulting from the strong June 2023 comparator”.
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“Q3 represents another excellent performance by the business against a tough comparative period,” chief executive Dalton Philips said. “Our continued progress has been delivered through ongoing impactful operational and commercial initiatives, which we are continuing to implement at pace, supporting the improved profit conversion in the quarter.
“While Q4 remains a seasonally important trading period our continued strong profit conversion performance means we now expect to deliver a full-year adjusted operating profit of £88 million-£90 million, ahead of previous guidance and market expectations,” he said.
The company said its £30 million share buyback process was progressing well, and it confirmed its intention to initiate a dividend for the year to September 2024.
Stockbroker Davy said it saw “modest upside to our current forecasts” on the back of what it described as a “resilient top-line performance”.
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