Premier Foods profit beats expectations and raises dividend

(Alliance News) - Premier Foods PLC on Thursday raised is dividend and announced higher than expected annual profit.

St Albans, Hertfordshire-based Premier Foods is a maker of branded and non-branded food, including Mr Kipling cakes and Oxo stock cubes.

Pretax profit in the year to March 28 shot up 13% to GBP181.9 million from GBP161.3 million, while revenue was 2.3% higher at GBP1.18 billion and GBP1.15 billion. Trading profit increased 6.7% to GBP200.4 million, ahead of expectations.

"This profit delivery is ahead of previously raised guidance and reflects further branded revenue growth and market share gains, in addition to efficiency benefits from our capital investment programme," Chief Executive Officer Alex Whitehouse said.

"Our innovation programme has been particularly strong this year and has been a key driver of growth in our UK core branded business. New product ranges such as Mr Kipling cake bites tubs, OXO bone broth and Angel Delight bubble jelly have been extremely successful, and yet again demonstrate the strength of our branded growth model. We are particularly pleased with the impact our new ranges have had within our Sweet Treats business, where we have seen branded revenue growth of over 7% this year. Boosted by these innovations, this has been Mr Kipling's biggest ever year."

Premier Foods raised its dividend by 20% to 3.36 pence per share from 2.8p. Currently, it only pays a final dividend. However, it plans to introduce an interim payout for the new financial year.

Whitehouse said: "Given the continued strong performance of the Group and the cash generating capacity of the business, we also currently plan to introduce an interim dividend in FY26/27. As we look forward to FY26/27, our expectations are unchanged and we expect to make further strong progress across all our strategic pillars."

Premier Foods shares rose 3.8% to 204.80 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

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