Greencore Group plc is a leading international manufacturer of convenience foods. We have 22 convenience foods manufacturing sites in the UK and the US; and employ in the region of 12,000 people.

The Convenience Foods Division provides a wide range of chilled, frozen and ambient foods to major retail, manufacturing and foodservice customers in the UK and Ireland, as well as many in Continental Europe, the US and beyond. We have long-standing experience in customer brand as well as providing a selection of house and licensed brands. The Division consists of six manufacturing category businesses comprising 15 sites in the UK and seven in the United States. We also operate a UK nationwide chilled van distribution fleet to service individual outlets.

The Ingredients & Related Property Division comprises Trilby Trading and associate molasses companies as well as a specialist property team that is working to maximise the value of the Group's property assets.

At Greencore, we aim to provide a distinctive approach that combines consumer understanding with customer care and a passion for providing the very best products and service.


In 2011 Greencore became a founding member of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce.
Welcome from Group CEO




http://www.greencore.ie/

Through a quid on good volume.

Disposal Completion Announcement
RNS
RNS Number : 6942U
Greencore Group PLC
02 January 2013





2 January 2013







Greencore completes disposal of its Minsterley facility to Müller





Further to its announcement of 15 June 2012, Greencore today confirms that it has now completed the disposal of its Chilled Desserts facility in Minsterley to the Müller Dairy UK group ("Müller") (the "Disposal").

A trading update next week (29 Jan) - There could be an upbeat update highlighting market share gains. For the year to Sept, Investec Securities Nicola Mallard forecasts 10.5% taxable profits growth to £60.5 million for 8% earnings improvement to 13.7p a share. Based on these estimates the shares languish on a prospective P/E ratio of around eight times. That implies scope for a rerating as debts reduce, while a well covered 4.6p dividend payout, equivalent to a juicy 4.3% yield.

RNS Number : 5380W

Greencore Group PLC

29 January 2013






29 January 2013

Greencore Group plc - Interim Management Statement

"A satisfactory start to the year"



Greencore Group plc ("the Group") today issues its interim management statement for the period to 29 January 2013. Trading information relates to the 13 weeks trading period to 28 December 2012.



Current Trading

Convenience Foods

The Convenience Foods division recorded revenue of £285.8m for the 13 week period to 28 December 2012, 2.5% higher than in the prior year in reported currency and 2.8% higher in constant currency. The revenue growth reflects both the contribution from acquisitions in the period but also the impact of business exited, notably in the former Uniq chilled desserts activity.



In the UK, revenue was in line with prior year on a like for like basis (that is excluding both the acquisition of the International Cuisine business acquired in August 2012 and the impact of the restructuring of the chilled desserts activity acquired as part of Uniq). This reflects both a challenging UK food market where growth rates across our categories have moved down in line with the overall market and also a tough comparator period in FY12 when the business recorded 11.8% growth in the 17 weeks to 27 January 2012.



The restructuring of the Uniq desserts business has now been completed. During the period, the Group announced that it had completed the disposal of its Chilled Desserts facility in Minsterley to the Müller Dairy UK Group.



In the US, revenues have more than doubled versus FY12 reflecting the acquisitions of MarketFare Foods and Schau partly offset by extensive portfolio rationalisation in the original business, principally at the Newburyport facility, in order to improve returns. The acquisitions have performed well in the period with underlying double digit revenue growth. The business has also successfully commenced supply to Starbucks in the greater Boston area during January.



Ingredients and Property

The Ingredients and Property division, which represented 6% of Group revenues in FY12, recorded revenues of £13.1m, 11.6% lower than prior year in constant currency and 17.9% lower than the prior year in reported currency. This was due to the phasing of orders and shipments and our view on the division's potential financial delivery for the year remains unchanged.



Financial Position

The Group's financial position remains robust with good headroom within existing debt facilities. The Group continues to manage cash tightly and remains focused on further de-leveraging throughout FY13.



Board Composition

As previously announced, Mr Gary Kennedy will succeed Mr Ned Sullivan as Chairman after the Annual General Meeting to be held later today. Both Mr Sullivan and Mr Pat McCann will step down from the Board at the conclusion of the AGM. The Group also recently announced the appointment of two Non-Executive Directors, Ms. Heather Ann McSharry and Mr John Warren, with effect from 30 January 2013.




Outlook

Market conditions continue to be challenging, particularly in the core UK market which shows little or no volume growth. We expect this to remain the case for the foreseeable future. However, the Group remains well positioned with a balanced customer portfolio and exposure to faster growing convenience categories. We have good visibility at this stage to the likely impact of input cost inflation for the financial year and expect this to be lower than the 4% experienced in FY12. The Group achieved good operating efficiencies and cost control in Q1 and we intend to maintain this delivery for the remainder of the financial year. We remain confident in our ability to deliver good results for the financial year in line with our expectations.



Conference Call



A conference call for investors and analysts will be held at 8.30am GMT today. Dial in details are below and a replay facility will be available afterwards at www.greencore.com.

Greencore: Panmure Gordon shifts target price from 100p to 110p and downgrades from buy to hold. Investec increases target price from 105p to 125p still recommending to buy.

:-))

Good timing DC - opened -15% after extended auction.

Assuming these guys have got nothing to fear from the horse meat scandal, this looks likely for a pretty big bounce at some point? Or is the drop for another reason?

I think they supply ASDA's beef bolognese - anyway, I've had a small long @82p

Stopped for +6.

Response to Press - Asda Product Withdrawal

Greencore can confirm that it supplied the Chosen By You 350g Beef Bolognese Sauce that Asda has withdrawn following the detection of traces of equine DNA in a screening test. In addition to the 350g Beef Bolognese Sauce, Asda has withdrawn three other Greencore products, none of which contain equine DNA, as a precautionary measure (600g Beef Broth Soup, 500g Meat Feast Pasta Sauce, and 400g Chilli Con Carne Soup). The revenue of the Beef Bolognese Sauce represented c. £0.3 million of Greencore's £1.16bn turnover in its last financial year. The annualised revenue of all products withdrawn represents less than £1.0 million.

The company is currently awaiting the results of further quantitative tests on the 350g Beef Bolognaise Sauce that will validate the presence and the extent of the equine DNA.

The sauce contained meat that was supplied to Greencore under contract by the ABP Food Group's Nenagh plant in County Tipperary, Ireland, an approved and regularly audited supplier. The company is working closely with them to determine the full facts as we await the results of the further tests.

Greencore is committed to maintaining the highest standards of food safety and food traceability, and is therefore extremely concerned that the quality of one of its products may have been compromised in this way. The company is participating in full with the intensive industry testing programme to examine the full supply chain in order to restore consumer confidence.

Broker note today:
"Shore Capital most certainly believes that Greencore is a reputable and professional organisation where we know that the management will be most disturbed by these developments.
We note Greencore has a considerable involvement in the Italian prepared food category, which has been at the centre of the adulteration in the frozen food cabinets to date, we estimate c£70m of annual revenue for Greencore, with c£50m containing beef. The significance of the Asda product withdrawal is that it is the first fresh prepared foodstuff to be embroiled in the present hiatus. We doubt that the Italian prepared food category will see a long-term downturn as a result of the adulteration, albeit in the short term our worry lines are a bit more pronounced.
The whole industry is braced for the outcome of the first batch of broader test results, which the Foods Standards Agency is expected to release today (15th February 2013). The scale of the adulteration to date has proved to be more than a body blow to the food chain. No doubt further disappointment will follow, although new testing procedures are likely to follow this issue, which may be a force for good.
Whilst we await final updates from the product testing, the group’s stock has seen a significant (+14%) markdown. We believe the scale of the downgrade reflects ongoing uncertainty surrounding the short and medium-term impact on sales across the ready meals and sauces categories, the need for clarity with respect to listings and ultimately the impact on profit expectations, rather than the modest sales contribution from the existing delistings.Whatever is found, however, is likely to our minds to lead to prompt action to reinstate authenticity to the supply chain. Therefore, whilst a highly unwelcome development with ongoing nervousness as to the full outcome, we do believe that in due course Greencore and the broader food chain will emerge with a more robust procurement system and so the underlying investment case for Greencore should not be derailed."

Harry - I'm back in.

Waiting to find a link for the test results being mentioned atm.

Here :- Horsemeat scandal: Withdrawn products and test results

Anyone know why the drop.?

I'd like to say your sell yesterday - but ...... see post 31.

I think there will be knee jerk reactions to any bit of news, so think I will just watch for the moment. As the test results are made public, sentiment seems to be very quick to react. Looks like school dinners are the next to test positive, but wouldn't be surprised to find care homes, military camps, university canteens etc etc are all going to find contaminated meat. (Pretty much anywhere which serves meals in bulk).

Thanks harry, only just got in.

Greencore shares plummet as horse meat found in sauce
Fri 15 Feb 2013

GNC - Greencore Group

Latest Prices
Name Price %
Greencore Group 91.75p -10.27%

FTSE All-Share 3,330 +0.09%
FTSE Small Cap 3,684 -0.17%
Food Producers & Processors 6,989 -0.43%

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Horse meat has reared its ugly head once again – this time in Greencore’s beef bolognese sauce.

Shares tumbled 14.91% to 87.00p at 10:12 Friday as the Irish food producer confirmed its Chosen By You 350g Beef Bolognese was withdrawn from Asda supermarkets following the detection of horse DNA.

Three other Greencore products were taken off shelves “as a precautionary measure” but they did not test positive for horse meat. Items included the 600g Beef Broth Soup, 500g Meat Feast Pasta Sauce, and 400g Chilli Con Carne Soup.

The bolognese sauce contributed circa £0.3m of £1.16bn turnover in Greencore's last financial year. The annualised revenue of all products withdrawn represents less than £1.0m.

“The company is currently awaiting the results of further quantitative tests on the 350g Beef Bolognaise Sauce that will validate the presence and the extent of the equine DNA,” the group said in a statement.

Greencore said the meat for the sauce was supplied by the ABP Food Group's Nenagh plant in County Tipperary, Ireland, an approved and regularly audited producer.

The group is working with ABP to determine the full facts as they await the results of tests.

The incident is the latest in a string of scandals over horse meat found in beef products. Tesco, Lidl, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Iceland, Co-Op and Dunnes have also withdrawn some beef-based meals.

UK’s Downing Street has criticised the reluctance of stores involved in selling the products to speak up about the affected goods. "It isn't acceptable for retailers to remain silent, sources from the government headquarters told the BBC.

The Food Standards Agency will reveal test results for horse meat in UK processed meals later Friday.