Weak grocery sales dent Premier Foods Q3 revenues

(Sharecast News) - First-quarter sales at Premier Foods barely ticked higher, the Mr Kipling and Oxo owner said on Thursday, with grocery branded declining as warmer weather impacted some categories. Group sales nudged up just 0.3% on the previous year to £240m, with sweat treats sales up 9.1% to £65.3m, but grocery revenue 2.7% lower at £174.7m as hotter temperatures dented some categories.

Premier Foods said categories such as gravy, stock and soup were impacted by higher than average temperatures during the quarter.

Sweet treats branded sales rose 11.4%, while grocery branded sales were 2% lower.

Chief executive Alex Whitehouse said: "We grew branded sales by another 1.2% this quarter, led by very strong volume led growth in branded Sweet Treats. This was driven by the strength of our innovation programme with new product ranges such as Mr Kipling birthday cake tarts performing very strongly, as we brought to Britain a trend that is particularly popular in the US.

"We also continued to grow volume and value market share overall, despite the impact of recent warmer weather on some grocery categories. Ambrosia porridge and Cape Herb & Spice were key drivers of further good progress in new categories, with sales up 38%, while The Spice Tailor and FUEL10K also continued to perform very well."

Premier Foods said profit expectations for the full year were unchanged.

At 0950 BST, the shares were down 4.1% at 185.40p.