By Iain Gilbert
Date: Wednesday 08 Nov 2017
LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Retail meat packer Hilton Foods said on Wednesday that it had made "significant strategic progress" in the last four months with the acquisition of Icelandic fish smokers Seachill and the finalisation of an agreement to build a new facility in New Zealand.
Hilton said turnover within Britain had continued to grow relative to last year and that its Irish business had continued to experience "encouraging" top-line growth since its last trading update on 17 July.
In both Sweden and Denmark, the group said it was behind the previous year's results, and noted that although the Netherlands had remained a challenging market for the firm, overall performance was boosted by new product and packaging developments, as well as other initiatives.
In Portugal, Hilton continued to process significant volumes as it began the execution of its scheduled development plan, which it said "more than offset" the impact of the project's start-up costs.
The group also said its joint venture in the Australian states of Queensland and Victoria was moving in line with its expectations, with planning permission relating to its Queensland plant having been obtained in the same period it finalised the deal to construct its Auckland, New Zealand plant with Progressive Enterprises.
Damian McNeela, an analyst at Numis Securities, said the acquisition of Seachill represented a "major strategic milestone", serving to strengthen Hilton's relationships with one of its major customers, as well as providing a platform to develop its seafood capabilities in other markets.
Numis reiterated its 'add' rating on Hilton and raised its target price from 830p to 1,000p per share.
As of 1015 GMT, shares had grown 0.26% to 866.25p.