Convenience food group Greencore Group said revenue grew in the first quarter and volumes remained ahead of the market as the company got the financial year of to a strong start.
In a trading update for the quarter ended December 26th 2025, the group said revenue rose 5.4 per cent to to £499.8 million, despite a demanding comparison with the previous year. Manufactured volume was 0.5 per cent highers, beating the wider grocery market at 0.2 per cent, Greencore said.
The shares rose 0.5 per cent in London.
That growth was seen across a number of Greencore’s categories, including sandwiches and sushi, with strong demand for premium ranges. Greencore attributed it to product innovation, with the company launching 129 new products during the period.
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Greencore completed the acquisition of British rival Bakkavor earlier this month in a £1.2 billion (€1.4 billion) deal that could deliver cost savings of up to £80 million a year.
Greencore and Bakkavor share the many of the same customers among big UK supermarkets – including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Asda – but have limited crossover in products.
The two businesses will mostly operate in parallel, the group said, for a period of three months, and will begin to integrate.
“We are focused on execution, both in terms of the performance of the enlarged group and the realisation of the benefits of the Bakkavor acquisition,” Greencore said.
The group will announce its first half results on May 27th, its first for the enlarged group.
“As a larger business, we now have real potential to do even more for our customers, particularly through product innovation, whilst in parallel driving meaningful value for shareholders and wider stakeholders,” said chief executive Dalton Philips. “Our immediate focus is to execute our integration plans and deliver the benefits of the combination, and we look forward to updating the market as the year progresses.”
Looking ahead, Greencore said the group business was trading in line with the board’s expectations, although it was monitoring the uncertain UK consumer environment.
“Greencore has delivered a solid update that provides confidence in the execution of its integration and synergy ambitions,” Davy analyst Gary Martin wrote in a research note. “Underlying trading at Greencore reflects healthy category momentum, with reported growth of 5.4% while profit conversion has remained ‘robust’.”
“The enlarged business (including Bakkavor) continues to trade in line with the Board’s expectations and the group continues to expect to deliver ‘at least £80 million’ in annual cost synergies. At first look, we envisage limited changes to our forecasts,” he added.
“While there is limited incremental colour on the recently acquired Bakkovor assets, on a stand-alone basis, trading momentum continues to be encouraging supported by GNC’s reputation for strong innovation and execution in outperforming a still-challenged UK end-market,” Goodbody analyst Patrick Higgins wrote in a research note.
