Premier Foods plc (PFD.L) posted first-half loss attributable to shareholders of 40.2 million pounds or 16.8 pence per share versus loss of 11.7 million pounds or 4.9 pence per share a year ago.
The company said prior-year results have been restated to reflect the Retailer Branded Chilled business as a discontinued operation. Also, 2011 per share results have been restated following the 10:1 share consolidation effected during 2012.
Loss from continuing operations was 27.8 million pounds or 11.6 pence per share versus profit of 13.2 million pounds or 5.5 pence per share a year earlier.
Pre-tax loss was 27.3 million pounds, compared to pre-tax profit of 11.2 million pounds a year ago.
Adjusted earnings per share for continuing operations was 9.5 pence versus 7.0 pence in the prior-year period.
Revenue from continuing operations was 852.8 million pounds, down from 1 billion pounds in the prior year. The major driver of the decline was the disposal of the Canned grocery operations business in July 2011.
"….Power Brand sales were up 2% and sales of Grocery Power Brands increased by a healthy 4.9%, reflecting consistent improvement in market shares. Trading profit increased 3.2%, in line with our expectations.
Plans to simplify the business and drive further efficiency and effectiveness are proceeding ahead of plan and we will now deliver the previously announced £40 million savings by the end of 2012. As we continue our divestment programme, we plan to take further costs out of the business.
We remain cautious given the current economic and trading environment and our full year expectations remain unchanged."
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