REG - Hilton Food Grp Plc - Trading Statement

Hilton FoodAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 9626G  Hilton Food Group PLC  11 November 2025

11(th) November 2025

HILTON FOOD GROUP PLC

TRADING UPDATE FOR THE THIRD QUARTER TO 19(th) OCTOBER 2025

 

Hilton Food Group plc ('Hilton Foods' or 'the Group'), the leading
international multi-protein food business, today announces a third quarter
trading update for the period from 30(th) June 2025 to 19(th) October 2025.

Trading

The Group has maintained a resilient trading performance amid a highly
inflationary pricing environment.

·    Volumes across red meat and convenience remain solid, with
convenience in particular continuing to perform well, although ongoing price
inflation pressures continue to weigh on underlying demand.

·    While we expect the salmon category to benefit from increased demand
over the festive period, the wider UK seafood division continues to be
impacted by softer white-fish demand. This is driven by ongoing high raw
material inflation and cautious consumer spending.

·    The Foppen smoked salmon business in Europe continues to experience
operational disruption due to regulatory restrictions on shipments to the US.
As previously explained, this has resulted in additional costs.  We have
implemented actions to address the issues, but the ongoing US government
shutdown has resulted in delay to the approvals for the Greek facility to
recommence production. As a result, we do not expect that production in Greece
will resume in 2025.

 

Balance Sheet

Net debt at the year-end is expected to be only marginally higher than at the
end of FY24. We have received net cash receipts of £71m from the completion
of the Foods Connected and Fairfax Meadow transactions during the quarter, and
as previously outlined, we have continued the strategic investment to develop
our new Canadian facilities. We also expect a partial inventory unwind as we
sell through our Christmas ranges.

Outlook

Although underlying demand is subdued, the normal seasonal uplift in Q4 is
expected to support overall performance in the near term.  As a result, the
Board now expects adjusted pre-tax profit for the financial year ending 28(th)
December 2025 to be in the range of £72m to £75m.  Given the emerging
impact on demand from ongoing inflationary pressures and the continued
disruption at Foppen, the Board has become more cautious on the trading
outlook for 2026 and as such expects profit progression in the next financial
year to be difficult.

 

The development of the Group's new operations in Canada and the joint venture
in Saudi Arabia remain on schedule.  The Group continues to leverage its
long-term customer relationships, strength in product innovation, and
operational efficiency to deliver affordable, high-quality products and to
build a strong platform for sustainable long-term growth.

 

Business Review

The ongoing business review assessing our operations and portfolio alongside
continued focus on strengthening long-term shareholder returns has reached an
advanced stage and has identified clear opportunities to optimise the Group's
operations going forward. The Group expects to provide an update on the
conclusions of the review alongside the Full Year Trading Update on 29(th)
January 2026.

 

 

 

END

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
EU Regulation 596/204 (which forms part of domestic UK law pursuant to
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018) and has been authorised for
release by Robin Miller Group General Counsel and Company Secretary.

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

 Hilton Food Group plc                                           Tel: +44 (0) 1480 387214
 Steve Murrells, Chief Executive Officer

 Matt Osborne, Chief Financial Officer

 Hannah Surtees, Investor Relations and Communication Director

 Headland Consultancy                                            Tel: +44 (0) 20 3805 4822
 Susanna Voyle                                                   Email: hiltonfood@headlandconsultancy.com
                                                                 (mailto:hiltonfood@headlandconsultancy.com)
 Will Smith
 Joanna Clark

 

About Hilton Foods

About Hilton Foods Hilton Foods is a leading international multi-category food
producer, serving customers and retail partners across the world with high
quality meat, seafood, vegan and vegetarian foods and meals. We are a business
of over 7,300 employees, operating from 21 technologically advanced food
processing, packing and logistics facilities that serve over 19 markets in
Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. For over thirty years, our business
has been built on long-term partnerships with our customers and suppliers,
many forged over several decades, and together we target long-term,
sustainable growth and shared value. We supply our customers with high
quality, traceable, and assured food products, with high standards of
technical excellence and expertise manufactured in our well invested, highly
automated facilities.

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