(Alliance News) - Greencore Group PLC said Thursday its expects annual profit to grow in line with market forecasts, with fourth quarter sales seeing an improvement despite a subdued start.
For the year ending September 27, the sandwich maker expects adjusted earning per share to be "in line" with the 16.0 pence market expectations. In financial 2018, Greencore reported 15.1 pence adjusted EPS.
The FTSE 250-listed firm said revenue growth "improved throughout" the fourth quarter, despite "subdued trading conditions in the early part of the quarter and a strong comparative period year on year."
Greencore warned that - following the GBP56 million acquisition of Freshtime UK Ltd earlier in September - its net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation ratio would be towards the "upper end" of its 1.5 times to 2.0 times target range. At the end of financial 2018, net debt to Ebitda stood at 2.3 times.
In addition, Greencore provided medium term financial ambitions. The firm is targeting mid single-digit organic revenue growth and high single-digit adjusted EPS over the medium term.
Greencore also intends to convert half of its adjusted Ebitda to free cash flow and generate mid-teen return on invested capital during the medium term. In financial 2018, adjusted Ebitda stood at GBP140.0 million and ROIC was 15.6%.
Shares in Greencore were 0.6% higher at 227.00 pence in London on Thursday.
By Ahren Lester; ahrenlester@alliancenews.com
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Greencore (GNC)