Premier Foods Maintains Profit Forecasts

Sales for the company’s Grocery division continued to see good growth driven by 2008 pricing actions with growth in market share supported by new product launches and strong promotional activity.

29/06/09 Premier Foods plc, the biggest food manufactuer in Britain has reported that trading over May and June has continued in line with the trends seen in the first four months of 2009. The company stated that expectations for sales and profit for the half year and the full year are unchanged.

Sales for the company’s Grocery division continued to see good growth driven by 2008 pricing actions with growth in market share supported by new product launches and strong promotional activity. Sales in the company’s bread business continued to see excellent sales and market share growth as they continued to invest behind Hovis. Although sales of bulk flour were lower than last year due to the previously announced exit from a low margin flour contract, bulk flour profitability has been unaffected.

The Chilled division continued to see good sales growth of both Quorn and retailer branded products although profitability has been reduced by the high level of marketing investment and increased manufacturing costs in the Meat free business. Integration synergies remain on track, Premier Foods reported.