Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed its interim results for the 24 weeks ended 2nd March 2024, reporting “good momentum” in food business.

ABF, which owns brands such as Kingsmill, Patak’s, Jordans, Silver Spoon and Ryvita, has a number of businesses across the ingredients, agriculture, sugar and retail sectors.

According to the financial report, the company earned a group revenue of £9,734 million, up from the previous year’s £9,560 million. Revenue growth was up 5%, which ABF said said was driven by good momentum in its retail and food businesses.

Its adjusted operating profit was £951 million, an actual currency change of 39% from the 2023 rate of £684 million.

ABF reported investments of £571 million and free cash flow of £468 million, which it said reflected profit growth and a “significant reduction in working capital outflow”.

Full year outlook

ABF said it had delivered a “strong first half performance” and was on track to deliver “significant growth” in both profitability and cash generation at the start of this financial year.

The company said it expected Grocery to continue to perform well, supported by a “step-up in marketing investment”, but said that the strong profitability of its US-based brands was expected to normalise somewhat towards the end of the second half.

ABF also highlighted that following a “better than expected” first half, it now expected its Ingredients category to perform well this financial year, and its Agriculture category to move forward as markets improve and it integrates and leverages the acquisitions of the last two years.