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Premier Foods breaks 13-year dividend drought as profit more than doubles
StockMarketWire.com
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Premier Foods declared a dividend for the first time in 13 years after its annual profit more than doubled, thanks to high demand for groceries during lockdowns that helped it reduce a large debt pile.
The maker of Mr Kippling cakes, Oxo cubes and Bisto gravy recommended a final dividend of 1p per share.
Its pre-tax profit for the year through 3 April jumped to £122.8 million, up from £53.6 million year-on-year, as revenue climbed 10% to £947.0 million.
Adjusted pre-tax profit, which strips out one-off items, rose 25% to £117.9 million.
'This has been an outstanding year for the business with very strong financial metrics across the board,' chief executive Alex Whitehouse said.
Premier Foods had cut its leverage to 1.9 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and repaid £190 million of floating rate bonds, saving about £10 million in interest costs.
It also had secured a new revolving credit facility to 2024 and launched offer of £300 million five-year senior secured fixed rate notes.
'As a result, we are pleased to be reinstating dividend payments for the first time in 13 years,' Whitehouse said.
Looking forward, he said the company entered the new financial year in a 'strong' position, with the benefit of an expanded consumer base, further TV advertising and a pipeline of new products planned.
'We are confident in our trading profit expectations for the full year and we expect adjusted pre-tax profit to benefit from lower financing costs,' Whitehouse said.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
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