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Greencore Group PLC on Wednesday said that trading in the third quarter ‘remained robust’ as it reported a swing to a pretax loss, amid an impact from the acquisition of Bakkavor. The Dublin-based convenience food maker said pretax loss was £33.3 million in the half-year ended March 27, compared to a profit of £26.7 million a year ago. Greencore shares fell 5.5% to 226.32 pence each on Wednesday morning in London. The swing to a loss ‘was driven by the impact of the acquisition of Bakkavor with the recognition of one-off transaction related costs in exceptional items, the amortisation of customer relationship intangibles and higher interest costs arising from the drawdown of the acquisition financing facilities,’ Greencore said. Greencore sealed the £1.2 billion buy of Bakkavor in January. Bakkavor makes fresh prepared food. Operating costs before acquisition-related amortisation were 64% higher, at £427.3 million, compared to £260.7 million. Cost of sales increased 44% to £892.0 million from £620.7 million. Revenue rose 43% to £1.32 billion from £922.0 million. Greencore said trading in the third quarter ‘has remained robust,’ as it expects to deliver adjusted operating profit in line with current market expectations, citing a range of £227 million to £241 million with an average of £232 million. It would be sharply higher than £125.7 million in financial 2025, which had jumped 29% from adjusted operating profit of £97.5 million a year prior. Chief Executive Officer Dalton Philips said: ‘The integration of Bakkavor is progressing well and to plan - and we are focused on bringing our 4,000-plus product portfolio and enhanced capabilities to our customers. We are firmly on track to deliver our target of annual cost synergies of at least £80 million within three years post-acquisition. ‘While we continue to monitor macro developments and inflationary impacts from the events in the Middle East, we remain confident in the short-term mitigations we have in place and the outlook for the business.’ The company will release a third-quarter trading statement on July 22. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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