RGD.L Regulatory News (RGD)

27 May 2005 07:00

Real Good Food Company Plc (The)27 May 2005 Date: 27 May 2005 On behalf of: Real Good Food Company plc ('RGFC') Embargoed until: 0700hrs The Real Good Food Company Trading update The Board of the Real Good Food Company plc released the following tradingupdate yesterday. Haydens revenues for the first four months of the year are up 17% on last year.Profitability is improving. Product development programmes continues to delivernew listings and a major re-launch of their cream cake range has already beenimplemented for Waitrose in May. New customer listings have been secured withBudgens and plans are in place for new launches to new customers in the Autumn.Capital investment on the new frying line will increase capacity and efficiencyat the end of the year. With the restructuring of the senior management team nowcomplete, the business has decided to integrate the Seriously Scrumptiouscommercial and operation functions into the spare chilled capacity at theHaydens site. As a consequence the Glastonbury site will close during thesummer, with the company seeking to re-assign the lease. Whilst the foodservice market remains slow, reflecting the downturn in consumerspending, Five Star's commitment to product development and excellent customerservice puts the business in a strong position to increase market share.Revenues for the first four months of the year are 13% up on the same periodlast year, which were the highest ever achieved, with a positive trend intohigher added value product ranges and an increasingly broader customer base. At the time of the announcement of our preliminary results, the companyindicated that discussions had taken place with a number of other suppliers inthe foodservice sector of the sandwich market with a view to creating a divisioncapable of achieving sales of up to £30m in the next two years. During the laterpart of 2004 and early part of 2005 RGFC has restructured its Coolfresh businessand prepared it for future development. In the spring of 2005, detaileddiscussions were entered into to acquire a competitor, which were taken to anadvanced stage. However, unfortunately these discussions have ultimately provento be unsuccessful. The Board of RGFC has reviewed the current business prospects of the stand-aloneCoolfresh operating division and believes the unit would continue to operate ata loss in the short term and prove to have a negative cash effect on the largergroup. Consequently, the Company has announced that the Rayleigh site will beclosed during the early part of June 2005. The Board believe that the underlying performance of its two principal businessunits, Haydens and Five Star Fish, is strong and both are performing well intheir respective market places. On the basis of trading in the year to date(excluding one-off reorganisation costs and taking advantage of an associatedtax benefit) the Directors consider that the Group is developing well and is atthe present time in line to meet market earnings expectations for the year. For further information: The Real Good Food Company plc Tel: 020 7234 0570Pieter Totte Numis Securities Tel: 020 7776 1500Andrew Dawber/Nick Westlake Redleaf Communications Tel: 020 7955 1410Emma Kane/Duncan McCormick Notes to Editors: • The Real Good Company plc is a food group servicing high end nichemarkets. It aims to grow both through acquisitions and organically. Itacquires underperforming businesses lacking critical mass, product focus andwide ranging retail relationships, and profitable businesses lacking businessfocus or access to markets. It is listed on AIM (Symbol: RGD). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange