Greencore has reported double-digit volume growth of premium sandwiches among other gains in Q1 of its latest financial year.
The Dublin-headquartered business, which completed a takeover of fellow food-to-go manufacturing giant Bakkavor two weeks ago, said growth had been encouraging across several categories including sandwiches and sushi during the quarter to 26 December 2025. Its manufactured volume rose by 0.5%, ahead of the wider grocery market at 0.2% [Kantar data, 12w/e 28 December 2025].
Top-line momentum from an ‘exceptional’ FY25 at Greencore continued into the new year’s first quarter, with reported revenue rising 5.4% to £499.8m including a price and inflation recovery impact of 3.7%.
The company noted that product innovation was still driving growth. A total of 129 new products were launched over the festive period – a mince pie brioche style wrap for Sainsbury’s, a yorkshire pudding wrap and a cheeseboard quiche for Tesco among the highlights.
Greencore revealed it has since brought out several ranges of high protein and fibre, GLP-1 friendly, product formats for retail customers.
Dalton Philips, chief executive at Greencore, said the strong Q1 performance reflects the “focus and huge efforts of our colleagues, who worked tirelessly on behalf of our customers, especially during the busy Christmas period”.
“Following the end of a strong Q1 and as we begin our centenary year, we reached an important milestone earlier this month with the acquisition of Bakkavor. It’s a great business, and we’ve all been so impressed by the new colleagues we’ve met over the past two weeks,” he added.
The deal has created a convenience food behemoth in the UK with a combined turnover of around £4bn, with both sides said to be mostly operating in parallel for three months before beginning to integrate.
“As a larger business, we now have real potential to do even more for our customers, particularly through product innovation, whilst in parallel driving meaningful value for shareholders and wider stakeholders,” commented Philips. “Our immediate focus is to execute our integration plans and deliver the benefits of the combination, and we look forward to updating the market as the year progresses.”
The group said it is expecting to deliver at least £80m in cost synergies, in line with previously stated timelines. “While we continue to monitor the uncertain UK consumer environment, we remain encouraged by continued structural tailwinds across our convenience food categories,” said the board.
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