REG - Hilton Food Grp Plc - Trading Update

Hilton FoodAnnouncement

08/11/2022 07:01

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RNS Number : 5875F  Hilton Food Group PLC  08 November 2022

 

 

8(th) November 2022

 

 

Hilton Food Group plc

 

TRADING UPDATE

 

 

Hilton Food Group plc ("Hilton Foods" or the "Group"), the leading
international multi-protein food business, today announces its Autumn trading
update.

 

Trading

 

During the period, Hilton Foods' volume and revenue have been in line with the
Board's expectations, with continued revenue growth compared to the same
period last year, although inflationary pressures are providing a headwind. We
have continued to make progress in our strategy of diversification across
geographies, proteins and channels:

 

·    In APAC, trading has been in-line with expectations with the New
Zealand food park continuing to make excellent progress with strong volume and
revenue growth. We hosted an analyst visit to Australia and New Zealand in
September to showcase our world class facility in Brisbane and the Group's
first multi-protein food park in Auckland.

 

·    In Europe, our single customer facilities performed well with revenue
ahead of the same period last year primarily driven by higher input prices,
with particularly strong trading in our Scandinavian markets as well as in
Central Europe, driven by the continued strong performance of our fresh food
business.

 

·    In our European multi-customer businesses, overall trading conditions
have improved and we have instigated a number of cost savings initiatives and
continued our investments in automation, the benefits of which will be
delivered in 2023. Within our UK Seafood business we continue to work closely
with our retail partners and have made good progress in either mitigating or
passing through the unprecedented inflationary costs faced by the business.
However, with this occurring at a slower pace than anticipated, the process is
not fully complete, and will continue for the rest of this year and into early
2023.

 

·    Our technology businesses, Foods Connected and Agito, have continued
to add new customers in the period and we are pleased with the early stages of
our partnership with Cellular Agriculture.

 

Outlook

 

Given the challenges in the UK Seafood business alongside the wider
macro-economic environment, the Board anticipates that operating profit will
now be below its expectations for the full year.

 

Despite this the Board remains confident that the business is well placed for
2023, with the Group's financial position continuing to be strong, with
leverage remaining at comfortable levels.

 

We have made good progress in ongoing discussions regarding geographic
expansion and continue to explore opportunities for growth in our existing
markets as we deliver on our strategy of becoming the protein partner of
choice.

 

The Group expects to announce the publication date for its results for the 52
weeks ending on 1(st) January 2023 in its January Trading Update on 12(th)
January 2023.

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the UK Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

 

For further information please contact:

 

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

 Matt Osborne, Chief Financial Officer

 Headland Consultancy                    Tel: +44 (0) 20 3805 4822
 Edward Young
 Will Smith
 Joanna Clark

 

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