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(Sharecast News) - Hilton Food tumbled on Tuesday as it downgraded its full-year profit guidance and struck a downbeat tone on the outlook for trading in 2026, citing operational disruption and subdued demand.
In a third-quarter trading update, the company said underlying demand was "subdued", but the normal seasonal uplift in the fourth quarter was expected to support overall performance in the near term.
It now expects adjusted pre-tax profit for the financial year ending 28 December of between £72m and £75m. This is below company-compiled consensus of £76.8m to £81m in September.
"Given the emerging impact on demand from ongoing inflationary pressures and the continued disruption at Foppen, the board has become more cautious on the trading outlook for 2026 and as such expects profit progression in the next financial year to be difficult," it said.
In the third quarter, Hilton said it maintained "a resilient trading performance amid a highly inflationary pricing environment".
Volumes across red meat and convenience remain solid, with convenience in particular continuing to perform well, although ongoing price inflation pressures continue to weigh on underlying demand, it said.
Hilton said the Foppen smoked salmon business in Europe was still experiencing operational disruption due to regulatory restrictions on shipments to the US, which has resulted in additional costs.
"We have implemented actions to address the issues, but the ongoing US government shutdown has resulted in delay to the approvals for the Greek facility to recommence production," it said. "As a result, we do not expect that production in Greece will resume in 2025."
At 1115 GMT, the shares were down 24.4% at 484.50p.
House broker Shore Capital downgraded its FY26 adjusted pre-tax expectation by around 17% to £67m from £80.5m after the results.
It said: "Visibility is currently low, which rarely benefits an investment thesis, but we feel it is prudent with the outlined moving parts indicated by the firm to take a cautious view with our estimates.
"We are conscious of a number of recent prior reductions to our forecasts, which we know also does not help investor confidence. So, bringing this altogether, we now forecast FY26 EPS of 51.4p, a circa 8% lower EPS YoY. To summarise, our new forecast reflects uncertainty in the core business and the potential for further slippage."
