- The FTSE 250 group had a full year of its ‘state-of-the-art’ Brisbane plant
- The final dividend was hiked following a strong revenue performance and in-line trading so far this year
Hilton Food’s (HFG) sales volumes rose more than a quarter last year as the meat packaging group benefited from 8.5 per cent growth in Europe and a more than doubling in Australia.
In the latter territory, Hilton was buoyed by its joint-venture transition period ending with the group buying the related assets, and a full 12 months of having its “state-of-the-art” Brisbane facility. Elsewhere, the company opened a facility in Belgium for Ahold Delhaize, its Netherlands-based food-retailing customer. A New Zealand plant is due to open during the third quarter.
Demand for Hilton’s products has climbed in line with people cooking at home during the pandemic, inevitably raising questions about what happens when restrictions ease. “Food service will come back, but it is going to take quite a lot of time to recover”, management ventured.
On strong revenue growth, adjusted operating profits rose more than a fifth to £67m. Panmure Gordon lifted its revenue estimate from £2.8bn to £3bn for FY2021, but left profit forecasts broadly unchanged, forecasting EPS of 58.9p (up from 55.4p in FY2020). Buy.
Last IC view: Buy, 1,222p, 17 Sep 2020
| HILTON FOOD (HFG) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 1,162p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 1.0bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,158-1,166p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,352p | LOW: 986p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.2% | PE RATIO: | 24 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 263p* | NET DEBT: | 55% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 1.23 | 33.2 | 33.7 | 17.1 |
| 2017 | 1.36 | 34.2 | 33.2 | 19.0 |
| 2018 | 1.65 | 43.3 | 39.9 | 21.4 |
| 2019 | 1.81 | 43.2 | 40.5 | 21.4 |
| 2020** | 2.77 | 54.0 | 48.6 | 26.0 |
| % change | +53 | +25 | +20 | +21 |
| Ex-div: | 03 Jun | |||
| Payment: | 02 Jul | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £70m, or 85p a share **53 weeks ending 3 Jan, versus 52 weeks to 29 Dec in prior year | ||||
