NEW! Investment Companies Centre
- Login to your account
- Free Membership to Digital Look
- Site Map
- Company A-Z
- Finance A-Z
- News Archive
- Events
- Give Us Feedback
Digital Look
- News Archive
- News Maps / Most Popular
- Expert Views
- Press Centre
- Market Reports
- Company News
- Small Caps News
- New Issues
- Economic News
- International News
- Commodities News
- Currencies News
- Bonds News
- Regulatory News
- Strategy Articles
- Technical Analysis Articles
- Investment Companies News
Virgin Credit Card:
Update: Northern Foods sees profits in line despite conditions
Related Companies
Related Indices
Related Sectors
News for Spread Betters
Previous
There's a new Investor Edition of CMC Markets' spread betting platform... and it's exclusive to DigitalLook.com users...
By Jamil Hussein
Date: Tuesday 07 Oct 2008
LONDON (ShareCast) - Northern Foods, which makes Fox's biscuits and Goodfella's pizzas, said it was on course to post profits in line with expectations despite challenging operating conditions.
The group said commodity price movements and a stronger Euro have created tough conditions but it remains on schedule to deliver pre-tax profits in line with expectations, with profits weighted more towards the second half.
Total revenue in the first half rose 6.5% and underlying revenue increased 3.9% on the prior year. Underlying revenue was driven by recovering input cost inflation through selling price increases averaging 5.6%, which offset lower volumes of 1.7%.
Underlying sales in the bakery division growth were up 6.7%, benefiting from the TV “Vinnie” advertising campaign to promote the Fox's biscuits brand.
Sales in chilled were up 4.5%, with underlying revenue rising 2.4% ahead of last year. Sales were driven by continued growth in ready meals of 4.5% against a backdrop of a decline in the ready meals market.
Frozen division revenue was up 10.2%, or 4.1% on an underlying basis. Sales were supported by higher selling prices, though as forecast, margins in its Irish businesses are being impacted by the stronger Euro.
“Our food propositions continue to be well received by the market, we are achieving a full recovery of higher input costs and we continue to drive cost efficiency improvements,” it added.