- Trading profits top raised guidance
- Best ever sales for Mr Kipling
- Further growth to come this year
Having raised its full year earnings guidance in January, sparking a round of upgrades, grocery products and cake-maker Premier Foods (PFD) served up an even more appetising set of results for the year to March.
Shares in the St Albans-based manufacturer jumped 5.5% to 112.5p to top the FTSE 250 mid-cap leader board.
EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS
Sales for the 12 months to the start of April were 3.6% lower than the prior-year period at £900.5 million, but 6.3% higher than their pre-pandemic level.
Revenues for branded goods were almost 10% higher than two years ago thanks to the firm’s continued investment in marketing and new products.
Trading profit, which was revised up to around £145 million in January, actually came in at £148.3 million, equal with the prior year and up nearly 12% on its pre-pandemic level.
Pre-tax profits of £128.5 million and earnings per share of 12.1p were also ahead of the recently-raised forecasts.
The firm credited its strong brands, which include ‘comfort foods’ such as Angel Delight desserts, Bird’s custard and most famously Mr Kipling cakes, for driving volume and value market share gains in both grocery and sweet treats.
Moreover, international revenues were 25% higher than two years ago thanks to strong sales of Sharwoods and Mr Kipling products, with the Mr Kipling brand enjoying its strongest ever sales.
SECOND HELPING
Building on the firm's better-than-expected results, chief executive Alex Whitehouse said he had ‘strong growth plans including several new product launches’.
Input cost inflation is unlikely to disappear, but Whitehouse was clear the firm would continue to manage it ‘using a combination of measures including cost efficiency and increased pricing’.
Sales since the start of April have been encouraging with ‘strong market share gains’ for its household-name brands as consumers ‘increasingly look for good value meal solutions’.
Given the positive momentum to date and the resilience of the group's key brands, Whitehouse said he was ‘confident of delivering another year of good progress’.
