Northern Foods chief executive Stefan Barden said today (14 January) that market conditions remain “competitive” after the UK food maker reported a “resilient” performance over Christmas.
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The Goodfella’s pizza and Fox’s biscuit owner said third-quarter like-for-like sales were flat after the end of “marginal” frozen pastry contracts.
For the year to 26 December, like-for-like sales were up 1.9% due to “good growth” from Northern’s chilled and bakery conditions.
Third-quarter chilled food sales were up 5.4% amid “strong growth” on sandwiches and salads. Lower ready-meal volumes, however, weighed on profits.
Bakery margins, meanwhile, were “strong” after “good demand” over Christmas.
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By GlobalDataHowever, Northern’s frozen business saw sales slump 10.5% as the company cut “low-margin” sales and simplified its production footprint.
Barden said: “Northern Foods has delivered a resilient Christmas trading performance. Market conditions remain competitive but at this stage of the year, our sales and profit expectations for the current financial year remain unchanged and in line with market expectations.”
Northern shares were down 0.2% at 66.7p at 14:39 GMT this afternoon.
