Greencore has declined to comment on a move by Hong Kong activist fund Oasis Management to up its stake in the UK-listed sandwich maker.
Oasis, which had held just over 5% in Greencore, has taken its shareholding to 10%, according to filings issued on the London Stock Exchange yesterday (11 July).
“We don’t comment on either our investors’ shareholdings or any interactions we have with them,” a Greencore spokesperson told Just Food.
Greencore, a supplier of private-label convenience foods to major UK retailers, reported its fiscal first-half results in May.
In the period to 29 March, revenue increased 4.1% on a like-for-like basis to £866.1m ($1.12bn) but was down 6.4% in reported terms. Like-for-like volumes grew 0.5%.
Food-to-go revenue, which includes sandwiches, salads, sushi and chilled snacks, rose 4.6% in like-for-like terms to £578.9m. Volume growth in sandwiches was 2.5% but Greencore noted a “weaker performances” in the salads and own-label sushi categories.
In convenience foods, which feature chilled ready meals, chilled soups and sauces, chilled quiche, ambient sauces and pickles, and frozen Yorkshire pudding, reported a 16.9% decrease in revenue to £287.2m.
Greencore said the decline was due to its sale of the edible oils Trilby business last year and the exit from low-margin contracts.
Like-for-like revenue in convenience rose 3.1%.
Operating profit climbed to £25.3m. It was £3.6m in the first six months a year earlier, a decline from the £7.2m generated the year before.
Adjusted operating profit rose to £28.3m, compared to £11.8m in the comparative period of the 2023 financial year. The margin increased 200 basis points to 3.3% having been down 90 points at 1.3% in the corresponding first half.
Greencore has been headed since 2022 by former Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips, who has embarked on a strategy to restore operating profit and margins while walking away from low-margin contracts.
Alongside the publication of the results, Greencore said it would close a UK soup factory at Kiveton, where the company operates two other sites for ready meals and quiche.
An unnamed source “familiar with Oasis’ thinking” told the FT the fund is happy with Greencore’s management and plans to improve its performance but believes efforts could be speeded up.
In March, when Oasis’ shareholding in Greencore first became public, Daniel Wosner, an executive at the fund, was quoted by The Sunday Times as saying: “Oasis have been holders of Greencore for several years and are supportive of management and its strategy. We are aligned in our ambitions for the business, and we see significant opportunities for margin enhancement and value creation.”
