Supermarket supplier Greencore hails ‘stronger than expected’ year

Supermarket sandwich maker Greencore saw profits jump more than a third after a “stronger than expected” year.

The food-to-go specialist hailed the performance despite a fall in revenues, driven by disposals and the end of less profitable contracts.

The group, which supplies all major UK supermarkets, saw shares rise by almost 10% in early trading as a result.

Greencore told shareholders that group revenues were down 5.6% at £1.81 billion for the year to September 27.

It said this was caused by the sale of Trilby Trading vegetable oil business to KTC last September, and a decision to “exit a number of low-returning contracts” during the previous financial year.

These factors were however partly offset by price inflation and stronger sales volumes, with like-for-like sales up 3.4% over the year.

Greencore also reported that pre-tax profits lifted by 36.1% to £61.5 million for the year.

It added that adjusted operating profits for the new financial year are expected to be in the top half of the expected range because of a positive recent performance.

Dalton Philips, chief executive of Greencore, said: “Over the last 12 months we have remained focused on making high quality food, rebuilding our profitability, and positioning Greencore to be known as the UK’s leading convenience foods manufacturer.

“We continue to make progress against each of our strategic objectives and are well positioned to continue this momentum in full-year 2025 and over the longer term.

“The strength of our balance sheet will provide us with the ability to invest in the growth and efficiency of our business and to pursue M&A (merger and acquisition) opportunities on a selective basis, while also enabling us to deliver increasing returns to shareholders.”

Shares in the company were 9.5% higher on Tuesday.