Investors have regained an appetite for sandwich, salad and sushi-maker Greencore (GNC) with the shares up 12.3% to 106.7p year-to-date, extending their one-year rally to 28%.

Building on a profit upgrade delivered in October, the Dublin-headquartered soup-to-sauce supplier served up encouraging first-quarter results (25 January 2024) with outstanding customer service levels underpinning a 5.8% rise in like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks ended 29 December 2023 and management calling out ‘improved profit conversion year on year’.

Food-to-go like-for-likes at Greencore, which supplies all the major UK supermarkets as well as coffee shops, discounters and convenience retailers, fattened up 5.8% as the company lapped rail strike-impacted prior-year comparatives and benefited from price increases. Another first-quarter highlight was the 2% like-for-like uptick in chilled ready-meal volumes delivered in a declining market.

With inflationary pressures subsiding, the pickles-to-frozen Yorkshire puddings seller is looking to rebuild profitability back to pre-Covid levels, while debt reduction, share buybacks and purchases by directors have helped improve sentiment towards the stock. Chief executive Dalton Philips insists his charge is ‘committed to continuing to drive profitability through commercial discipline’ and is ‘investing in several initiatives to develop a robust platform for future growth’.

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