LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Hilton Food reported a jump in interim profit on Tuesday as revenue rose and the company hiked its dividend, with performance boosted by the first full inclusion of the Seachill business bought last November, recovery of the business in Central Europe and further strategic progress in Australia.
In the 28 weeks to 15 July, IFRS pre-tax profit was up 13.9% to £21m on revenue of £863.6m, up 24.5% on a constant currency basis. Basic earnings per share were up 4.2% to 20p and the food packing business lifted its dividend by 12% to 5.6p a share.

Volume grew 12.7% during the period, driven by a debut contribution from the acquisition of fish processor Seachill and growth in the UK, Ireland and Australia.

Hilton said it continues to explore further opportunities for expansion and is "well placed" to capture those opportunities as they arise.

Executive chairman Robert Watson said: "Hilton has continued to deliver on its strategies to build a significantly bigger more diversified business. We achieved strong volume and profit growth during the period including the integration of Seachill and the launch of a fresh food offering in Central Europe. We have further extended our geographical reach in Australia where we commenced production and took operational control of two existing facilities whilst constructing a further facility and designing a new facility in New Zealand, which further extends our geographical reach.

"We remain committed to growing our business through innovation and product development as well as continuing to explore opportunities to expand the business both at home and abroad."

Shore Capital analyst Darren Shirley said: "After a strong start to the year, we choose to leave forecasts unchanged at this still early part of H2, though note that if current momentum is sustained then upgrade pressure will grow on our FY2018 CPTP forecast of £43.8m, EPS of 39.9p.

"Hilton's stock is trading on a December 2018 price-to-earnings ratio of 23.6x and an EV/EBITDA multiple of 10.5x, forecast to yield 2.3%, we believe Hilton more than merits such premium ratings, and see the group as a high quality growth story."

Shirley has a 'buy' rating on the stock.

At 0805 BST, the shares were up 3% to 968.00p.

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