Northern Foods, the UK group behind brands including Goodfella’s pizza and Fox’s biscuits, has posted rising half-year profits, as growth from its chilled business cheered the group amid a period of restructuring.
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The company booked underlying operating profit of GBP26.8m (US$55.4m) for the six months to 29 September, a rise of 5.9% on the year.
Underlying revenue – stripping out sales from discontinued operations and currency fluctuations – rose 2.5% to GBP438.6m.
Northern Foods has spent this year restructuring its business in a bid to focus on five categories – ready meals, sandwiches and salads, pizza, biscuits and Christmas puddings.
Rising ready meals sales boosted revenue from Northern Foods’ chilled division, which saw sales rise 5.4%.
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By GlobalData“These results show that we are making continued progress in delivering the improvements which we set out in our strategy,” said Northern Foods chief executive Stefan Barden.
“We have seen a strong six months from our chilled business and a return to revenue growth in bakery.”
Barden said the company had “initiated plans” to return its frozen business to profitability. The division saw sales fall 2.3%.
Northern Foods said a “robust” performance from Goodfella’s had been offset by a “disappointing” performance from its Dalepak meat grills business.
