Cranswick PLC on Tuesday said that it now expects full year profit to be at the top end of market consensus, after growth across its core UK food businesses boosted interim revenue.

For the six months ended September 23, the Yorkshire-based meat producer reported pretax profit of £86.9 million, up 41% from £61.5 million a year prior.

Revenue also increased, rising 12% to £1.25 billion from £1.12 billion the year before.

The boost in revenue was supported by ‘effective inflation recovery and resilient volume growth across all four core UK food categories,’ Cranswick explained.

Fresh Pork revenue grew strongly due to the ‘successful pass through of higher pig prices and volume growth’ in UK retail and wholesale channels, while Convenience revenue was ‘well ahead’ as a result of inflation recovery and volume uplift. The company also credited growth in its Gourmet Products revenue and Poultry revenue.

Cranswick upped its interim dividend by 10% to 22.7 pence from 20.6p the year before.

Looking ahead, the meat producer said it now expects its full year outlook to be at the upper end of current market expectations, which ranges between £153.2 million and £160.8 million for adjusted pretax profit.

Chief Executive Officer Adam Couch says: ‘Notwithstanding the many challenges that we, our industry and the wider economy continue to experience, I am confident that the strengths of our business, which include its diverse and long-standing customer base, breadth and quality of products and channels, robust financial position and industry leading infrastructure, will support the further development of Cranswick in the current financial year and over the longer term.’

Shares in Cranswick were up 1.5% at 3,700.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

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