Food-to-go manufacturing giant Greencore has completed a “monumental year” of trading, with profit guidance raised further following a strong quarter performance.
Greencore CEO Dalton Philips noted how Dublin-headquartered business had made “strides in our integration with Bakkavor”, whilst growing manufacturing volumes (+1.1%) ahead of the wider market (+0.5%) and driving strong profit growth.
Combined with recovery of labour, packaging and certain raw materials inflation, this was reflected in the 4.5% increase in pro forma revenue to £1,036m reported in its Q4 trading update. Pro forma turnover grew 3.6% to £3.4bn for the full year to 25 September 2026.
“We have real momentum in our business and Greencore has never been in a stronger place,” added Philips. “Customers want to do more with us and we are seeing encouraging progress from cross-selling categories across our expanded customer base.”
Innovation was said to have remained an important contributor to growth, with a total of 167 new products launched during the fourth quarter. Among these were new summer-focussed grab-and-go sandwiches, such as the limited-edition Chocolate, Strawberry & Pistachio Creme Sandwich it created for M&S, which had been made possible by a £900k investment in a dedicated nut-handling facility at Greencore’s Northampton site.
The £1.2bn Bakkavor acquisition, completed on 16 January, has delivered synergies on central re-organisation, procurement and distribution that started fast and have continued to progress strongly, stated Greencore.
Having previously raised guidance in its Q3 trading update, the company improved its anticipated FY26 Adjusted Operating Profit up to an approximate £248m, which it said was ahead of current market expectations in the range of £236m to £241m.
It revealed that volume momentum had continued into the first quarter of its latest financial year, with it remaining confident of its outlook and resilience of demand for its core categories including sandwiches, wraps, pizza, breads, quiches, pastries, ready meals, salads, sushi, soups, sauces, dips, pickles, and desserts.
“Our focus in FY27 remains simple: producing high-quality, innovative fresh food, ensuring we deliver for our customers and progressing our ambitions for our larger business,” commented Philips. The FY26 results are to be published on 1 December.
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