Greencore Q3 revenue up 2.6%, on track to deliver expected EPS growth

Convenience foods group Greencore has said that revenue for the third quarter of the year was £305.8m (€352.8m), an increase of 2.6% on the prior year.

In an interim management statement published this morning Greencore said that trading for the quarter was in line with expectations.

In the 39 weeks to June 28, the group recorded revenue of £878.7m (€1.01m), 1.5% ahead of the prior year. Its Convenience Foods division recorded revenue of £827.8m (€955m) for the year to date, 2.1% higher than the prior year.

However Greencore said market conditions in the UK remained tough during Q3 with continued poor weather affecting the business for much of the period. Revenue in the UK was 1.3% lower during the period on a like-for-like basis.

"Whilst the overall chilled ready meals market is gradually recovering from the impact of the horsemeat scandal earlier in the year, Italian ready meals remained in year-on-year decline," the company said.

"We have continued to focus on delivery of operating efficiencies and maintained tight cost controls across the UK business to mitigate these impacts."

The company said that while it expected UK conditions to remain challenging, it remained confident of delivering growth in adjusted earnings per share for the financial year in line with expectations.