Hilton Foods Regulatory News (HFG)

6 Nov 2008 07:00



HILTON FOOD GROUP PLC

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

Hilton Food Group plc, Europe's leading specialist retail meat packing business, provides its interim management statement for the 40 weeks ended 5 October 2008, as required under the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

In the current challenging general economic environment, we are even more committed to supporting our customers, working with them to deliver products that offer quality and value. 

Trading for the period has been in line with the Board's expectations. As outlined in our interim results statement for the 28 weeks ended 13 July 2008, the new breakfast meats business in Ireland came onstream in August and subsequent progress has been encouraging, with volumes continuing to build. In addition, we are supplying Tesco across four countries in Central Europe. 

The Group's balance sheet remains strong, there having been no significant changes to this position since the half year end.

The trading outlook of the Group for the remainder of the financial year continues to be in line with the Board's expectations. We continue to explore further opportunities to grow our business in both domestic and overseas markets.

The group expects to issue a pre-close trading statement on 13 January 2009 and its preliminary results for 2008 on 31  March 2009. 

For further information please contact: