Revenue increased by 6.9%, to £305.6m, in Greencore’s Convenience Foods division, for the 13 weeks to 27 December 2013.

The division saw like-for-like sales up 9.1% on the previous year, excluding its desserts activity, which was sold to Müller Dairy UK Group in January 2013.

Greencore said that while the overall grocery retail environment remained challenging, “the small store format continues to exhibit strong growth aiding our food-to-go activity”, adding that economic conditions in the UK were steadily improving.

The group saw overall sales up 7.2% to £320.5m. Like-for-like revenue in the UK was also up by 7.2% on the comparable period last year, while in the US revenue was up 26.2% on a constant currency basis, “reflecting the commencement of the Starbucks supply agreement”.