Greencore shares are up nearly 75 per cent this year but are still trading at around half their 2016 peak level. Photograph: iStock’s chief financial officer of less than four months, Catherine Gubbins, has been able to speak openly about shortcomings she has found at the UK’s largest maker of sandwiches and Italian ready meals.
Greencore signalled this week that profits will rise by as much as 15 per cent this year to £88 million – some 6 per cent above what the stock market had been expecting – after the company reported better-than-expected interim results, unveiled a £30 million share buyback programme and revealed it will return to paying a dividend this year for the first time in five years.
Greencore – which makes about 780 million sandwiches and other food-to-go products, such as sushi and salads, a year for retailers from Tesco to Morrisons – is preparing to ramp up production of a previously weak plant near Sheffield in England, having secured what it calls a “material new” contract to make ready meals for Aldi. The facility had been running at less than 60 per cent capacity since it moved all its soup production to Bristol.
Greencore executives highlighted their focus now is on “managing and right-sizing our cost base” and increasing the use of automation and robotics. They’re words that investors would like to hear, but should send a shudder through its 14,000-strong workforce.
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Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »