Premier Foods plc
12 November 2007
Premier Foods plc
On course to meet market expectations for the full year
Premier Foods plc ('Premier') announces its Trading Update covering trading for
the four months to the end of October 2007.
Highlights
• Pro forma Group sales up 3%; core Premier sales up 3%
• Challenging conditions for Bread Bakeries division remain, but
further price increases achieved
• Integration synergies on track
• On course to meet market expectations for the full year 2007
Trading performance
Sales for the Group for the four months to October 2007 were significantly ahead
of the same period in 2006 as a result of the acquisitions of Campbell's and RHM
in August 2006 and March 2007, respectively. Pro forma sales for the Group1 for
the four months to October 2007 were approximately 3% ahead of the same period
in 2006.
Sales for the core Premier business for the four months to October 2007 were
ahead of the same period in 2006 by approximately 3%. Within core Premier, the
Spreads and Desserts businesses saw improved branded sales growth and, although
the Meat-free business also saw improved sales growth, costs are running ahead
of normal levels whilst we improve the efficiency of the Methwold factory. We
are pleased with the performance of the Campbell's business which moved into
good growth, although we have yet to see an improvement in the core Convenience
Foods business.
Sales for the Culinary Brands business for the four months to October 2007 were
approximately 3% ahead of the same period in 2006, where strong summer sales
have been partly offset by reduced promotional activity in September and
October. This is in line with our strategy of reducing promotional activity,
but increasing advertising, on these acquired brands. Sales for the Cakes
business for the four months to October were approximately 3% ahead of the same
period in 2006. We announced at the time of our Interim Results the exit from
the Cake van sales operation, which has now been completed and will start to
deliver a positive contribution in 2008. The Customer Partnerships business
continued to perform well with sales increasing by approximately 3% in the four
months to October 2007 compared to the same period in 2006.
Sales by the Bread Bakeries division for the four months to October 2007 were
also moderately ahead of last year due to the price rises we have achieved
during 2007, partly offset by reduced volumes. At the time of announcing the
bread price increase in September, we cautioned that a further increase would be
necessary if the cost of wheat remained high. As a result of this continuing
cost pressure, it became necessary to implement a further price increase in the
last week in October to mitigate the margin impact of the unprecedented increase
in wheat costs seen during the summer. Whilst the retail price of our bread has
risen, we have only recently started to see similar increases in the retail
price of other bread brands. Consequently, we have seen lower volumes and,
combined with the impact of the higher wheat prices, trading profit for the
division has been significantly lower during September and October than the same
period last year.
We indicated at the time of our Interim Results that we would seek to address
the high level of fixed costs in the Bread Bakeries Division, as part of which
we have rationalised of the Bradford bakery and Telford distribution depot, both
of which were completed in October.
Integration of Acquired Businesses
The integration of the RHM businesses continues to move forward at pace and
remains on track to achieve the forecast £85m of annual cost synergies. The
£28m of annual cost synergies arising from the integration of Campbell's are
also being delivered to plan, which combined with RHM, will deliver £17m of
incremental trading profit in 2007.
With regard to the rationalisation of the manufacturing network, the closure of
the King's Lynn (ex Campbell's) factory is on track for the end of 2007 and we
have completed consultation with employees at the 6 manufacturing sites that we
proposed would be closed as part of the RHM integration and the transfer of
production has commenced. We have recently announced the closure of our
preserves factory in Dublin and we have also entered into consultations with
employees on a proposal to close our factory in Thurles, also in the Republic of
Ireland.
In addition to the closure of the Marlow head office in June, we have completed
the integration of Culinary Brands within 6 months from acquisition, with the
transfer of the business onto Premier's core information systems in October
2007. We are also pleased to have completed the disposal of the RHM frozen
foods business2.
Trading Outlook
We are delighted by the progress we have made on the integration of RHM and
expect that the integration will continue to run to plan.
We anticipate sales growth will continue to improve as we enter the important
Christmas trading period. We are pleased to have achieved further bread price
increases to offset higher wheat costs but we anticipate that our bread volumes
will continue to be affected whilst a disparity in retail prices between the
main bread brands remains.
As we stated at the time of our Interim Results, raw material and packaging
inflation is a significant issue across all parts of the business. We continue
to make significant progress in delivering the price increases necessary to
mitigate this cost inflation.
November and December are important trading months for the Group and we
anticipate that we will meet market expectations for 2007.
A conference call will be held for analysts and investors today at 8:30am.
Conference call details:
Telephone number +44 20 8322 3331
Enquiries:
Premier Foods plc Tel: 01727 815850
Paul Thomas Finance Director
Gwyn Tyley Director of Investor Relations
Citigate Dewe Rogerson Tel: 020 7638 9571
Michael Berkeley
Justin Griffiths
Angharad Couch
Nicola Smith
1. Pro forma sales for the Group represents the sales of the Group as if all
acquisitions and disposals made since 1 January 2006 had been made on that date.
2. The RHM Frozen Foods Desserts business, which had gross assets of £2.6m, was
sold to Country Style Foods Limited. The RHM Frozen Foods Pastry business,
which had gross assets of £4.5m, was sold to Green Isle Foods Limited.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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