Hilton Food delivers 'robust' H1 performance

(Sharecast News) - Food manufacturer Hilton Food said on Wednesday that it had delivered a "robust performance and further strategic progress" in the six months ended 29 June, despite "challenging" market conditions. Hilton Food posted a 7.6% increase in interim revenue to £2.09bn, partly due to a 2.5% volume increase, while pre-tax profits ticked up 0.3% to £33.6m. Statutory profit before tax, on the other hand, was down 4.7% year-on-year.

Retail meat and convenience delivered above-market volume growth of 3.1%, with contributions from all regions, supported by strong retail partnerships, efficient operations and a well-aligned product offer. In the UK, Hilton noted that seafood performance was impacted by softer demand for white fish, driven by "significant" raw material inflation.

Hilton also reported an adjusted free cash outflow of £30.8m, compared to a £30m inflow in H124, and said net bank debt increased from £131.4m at year-end to £202.4m.

Looking ahead, Hilton Food expects its retail meat businesses to continue to "perform well" for the remainder of FY25 and said it would continue to address the impact of inflationary trends in white fish and the operational disruption in its Foppen smoked salmon business stemming from regulatory restrictions on shipments to the US.

As a result, Hilton Food expects to deliver full-year profits within the range of expectations of £76.8m to £81m.

AJ Bell's Russ Mould said: "Hilton Food Group slumped 15% after a fishy trading update. Individuals are finding that fillets of fish and seafood are costing a lot more when they do their weekly shop, and that's causing people to rethink their meal plans.

"Hilton Food has reported weaker demand for white fish and has incurred regulatory-linked shipping issues for smoked salmon. That's prompted certain analysts to downgrade earnings forecasts and caused the share price to slip up."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com