UK-based convenience food group Uniq has said its first-half results, which were impacted by prior year UK business losses, were in line with expectations.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The company said profit before tax, exceptional items and goodwill amortisation fell to £10.7m (US$19.8m) for the 26 weeks to 25 September 2004, compared to £11.4m a year earlier. The company also reported a loss on ordinary activities before tax of £14.2m, compared to a profit of £6.0m in the year-ago period. Turnover slid to £424.4m from £470.9m a year earlier. Exceptional costs related mostly to the group’s supply chain project which it said is on target to deliver annualised cost savings of £17m by 2006/07.
Uniq, whose products include ready meals, salads and sandwiches, said its business in Southern Europe continued to perform strongly with operating profits up 17%. It also said it had achieved £20m of annualised new UK business wins mostly with Tesco and Morrisons.
“Our new UK and Northern European management teams have had a number of successes which underpin the performance of these businesses. The team in Southern Europe has delivered another excellent performance. I am confident that the actions we are taking both in the UK and across our business to focus on our chosen categories will provide the basis for a strong recovery in our performance over the next 18 months,” said chief executive Bill Ronald.
