Business
Trading update
Trading update.
About this update from Hilton Food Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n RNS Number : 7377V Hilton Food Group PLC 16 July 2009 \n \nHILTON FOOD GROUP plc\nTrading update to 12 July 2009\n\nHilton Food Group plc ('Hilton' or 'the Company'), the leading specialist meat packing business supplying major international food retailers in Europe, is today providing an update on trading for the 28 weeks ended 12th July 2009. \n\nAlthough the economic environment in 2009 has been challenging, trading for the period has been in line with the Board's expectations, with turnover growth underpinned by solid volume performance and some positive impact from foreign currency translation. Raw material prices are currently more stable in some of our markets ,following rises last year.\n\nAgainst this background, we are pleased to have made good progress with a number of key initiatives.\n\nIn the UK, where the market has been challenging, we have benefitted from an increased volume of barbecue products.\n\nWe have also progressed one of our key initiatives for 2009, namely the supply of spreadable meat products to Albert Heijn in Holland, for whom production should start during the second half of the year.\n\n In Ireland the bacon, sausage and gammon project has continued to perform well.\n\nTrading has been strong in Central Europe, where we have grown customer volumes. We have also started to export limited volumes from our facility in Poland to Latvia, for an existing customer.\n\nFor the remainder of the year, we expect to see customers and consumers continue to look for value and we believe that Hilton is well placed to support the market accordingly. We will continue looking to grow our business through new product opportunities and by exploring geographic expansion prospects. \n\nRobert Watson OBE, Chief Executive, commented:\n\n'We have continued growing the business despite the challenging economic conditions. This ha...