Grocery revenue grew 1% in Q3, which the retailer said reflected “good growth” across a number of its brands and businesses. The figure was partially offset by continued lower sales of US oils, while ABF highlighted that Ovaltine had continued to recover from the disruption caused by cocoa-related price increases in the previous year.
ABF also welcomed the decision by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to approve its acquisition of Hovis Group Limited. By combining the production and distribution activities of Allied Bakeries and Hovis, ABF expects to drive “significant cost synergies” to invest in product innovation and create a sustainably profitable bakeries business.
Ingredients revenue grew 3% in Q3, with ABF’s yeast and bakery ingredients business, AB Mauri, reportedly delivering a “solid performance” across most markets and a broad range of products. ABF’s portfolio of speciality ingredients businesses, ABFI, continued to grow, with most businesses said to be performing well.
Agriculture revenue declined 14% in Q3, which ABF said was due to lower sales of compound feed. It said it would adjust its cost base accordingly and dispose of one of its nine UK compound feed mills in the period. Separately, its speciality feed and additives businesses delivered “good growth”.
“Several long-running projects have either recently been completed or are nearing completion, reinforcing our confidence in the Group’s long-term growth prospects.”
George Weston, chief executive of ABF, commented: “The Group delivered a resilient trading performance in the third quarter. We are making good progress and there is more to come. Grocery and Ingredients delivered solid results. In Sugar, the duration and severity of the Middle East conflict have increased gas price expectations for next year, which has impacted our European profit outlook. Aside from Sugar, our full year outlook for the Group is unchanged.
“Across the Group, we continued to take targeted actions and make investments to drive performance. Several long-running projects have either recently been completed or are nearing completion, reinforcing our confidence in the Group’s long-term growth prospects.”
