Global food company Monde Nissin, which owns vegetarian brand Quorn, has reported a 4% decline in Q1 revenue for Quorn.

Meat alternative Q1 revenue declined by 4% to Php 3.4 billion on a constant currency basis, as Monde Nissin said “category softness” continued.

On a reported basis, Quorn revenue for Q1 declined by 2.7%, with the UK declining by 2.8% on a comparable and constant currency basis in Q1. Monde Nissin said this was due to a “challenging retail market”.

The company also said that Quorn’s Q1 gross profit had declined by 14.5%, while the gross margin had declined by 20% due to a “production volume decline” as the company brings down inventory. Monde Nissan said this had impacted its fixed costs recovery, which was “partially mitigated by input cost reduction”.

Henry Soesanto, chief executive officer of Monde Nissin, said: “For our Meat Alternative business, we remain vigilant, minimising costs and looking for efficiencies with the goal of remaining EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) flat or better for the year.”