Greencore has revealed a 7.5% reduction in turnover to $284m (£225m) for the four months to the end of July, blaming “a notable deterioration in consumer sentiment in the UK since June” and the strength of the Euro against the pound.
The convenience food and ingredients business said that excluding acquisitions and after removing the effect of foreign exchange volatility, convenience food sales were up 7.2%, reflecting a 3% increase in volume and 4.2% in price.
The company said it had appointed a new leadership team to stabilise its water business following the discovery in June of “deliberate concealment of costs” at its Campsie Mineral Water operation in Scotland. It described the cost concealment, reported to involve £15m, as an “isolated incident”.
Greencore said that its US business had enjoyed a “very encouraging start” since the acquisition of Home Made Brand Foods in April. It also secured an exclusive 10-year US chilled foods licence with Weightwatchers International last month.
Overall Greencore said that despite concern over consumer demand and the impact of poor weather, it was on track to deliver full year earnings per share of between 22.8 and 25.0 cents in line with market expectations.
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