Greencore's associate company in the US, Imperial Holly corporation, has continued its strong recovery with profits for the three months to the end of June - IHC's first quarter of its financial year - up 76 per cent to $7.3 million. This is the highest quarter's profit in IHC's history.

Greencore paid £31 million for a 27 per cent stake in IHC - America's second biggest sugar refiner - in July 1996, and since then the American company has steadily improved its profits performance.

First quarter sales at Imperial Holly were up 10 per cent from $180 million to $198 million, and the group was able to substantially improve its operating margins with operating profits increasing from $8.9 million to $14.2 million. Earnings per share were up 27 per cent to $0.51 even though the number of shares in issue rose from 10.3 million to 14.2 million as a result of the issue of shares to Greencore.