There’s something fishy going on at Hilton Food Group (HFG), but in a good way. The £80.8m acquisition of seafood company Seachill, funded through a £56m share placing, is now complete. It contributed £1.8m of profit during the period, but no synergies are expected since Hilton previously had no capability to produce fish products. Overall, operating profit before exceptional items was up 7 per cent at constant currency to £38.3m, with a 10.4 per cent increase in volumes sold, while the operating margin was flat at 2.8 per cent.
Seachill is UK-based, but Hilton is also focused on expanding outside its domestic market. Three-quarters of its sales now come from outside the UK, mainly from central Europe. Hilton has signed an agreement with New Zealand supermarket chain Countdown to build and operate a new production facility from 2020. It’s also restructuring its Australian joint venture so that it will take full control of its two existing plants from July this year.
Analysts at Numis expect pre-tax profits of £43.3m during 2018, giving EPS of 40.2p, up from £37.4m and 37.4p in 2017.
| HILTON FOOD GROUP (HFG) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 786p | MARKET VALUE: | £640m | |
| TOUCH: | 784-798p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 900p | LOW: 638p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.4% | PE RATIO: | 24 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 195p* | NET CASH: | £25.4m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2013 | 1.12 | 24.9 | 25.0 | 12.8 |
| 2014 | 1.10 | 25.2 | 25.0 | 13.3 |
| 2015 | 1.09 | 27.9 | 27.5 | 14.6 |
| 2016 | 1.23 | 33.2 | 33.7 | 17.1 |
| 2017 | 1.36 | 34.2 | 33.2 | 19.0 |
| % change | +10 | +3 | -1 | +11 |
| Ex-div: | 31 May | |||
| Payment: | 29 Jun | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £73.3m, or 90p a share | ||||
