Hilton Foods sees profits jump 20% on seafood performance

(Sharecast News) - Meat, seafood and meat alternatives group Hilton Foods saw profits rise by a fifth in 2023 despite modest top-line growth. helped by the turnaround in its seafood business. Adjusted pre-tax profit came in at £66m, up 20.3% at constant currencies, with adjusted operating margins improving to 2.4% from 1.8%.

Volumes increased by just 0.7% to 517,347 tonnes, while revenues rose 5.7% to £3.99bn.

The recovery in seafood is being delivered "ahead of plan", Hilton said, returning to full-year operating profitability. However, market challenges in the vegetarian/vegan unit have remained, leading the company to take seps to consolidate the business into a single operating facility.

Free cash flow improved to £112.1m, up from an outflow of £79.4m in 2022, though net bank debt reduced to £139.7m from £211.6.

The board proposed a final dividend of 23p, taking the total payout to 32p, up 7.7% on 2022.

"Growth prospects are underpinned by the strength of our core meat business, the continued recovery in seafood and in the medium term our recent acquisitions and the developing relationship with Walmart in Canada," the company said in a statement.

"The group's financial position remains strong, with improving leverage and headroom at comfortable levels, and we continue to explore new growth opportunities with existing partners, wider geographic expansion and complementary M&A."