Seafood continues to shine for Hilton Food Group

Seafood is continuing to provide a significant contribution to the performance of the Hilton Food Group. The group’s principal UK seafood operations, which include farmed and wild caught fish, are based in Grimsby where its production centre supplies the UK retail and food service trade. In a first quarter update, Hilton said trading was in line with the board’s expectations with volume and sales ahead of the same period last year. In UK & Ireland, both volume and revenue are ahead of last year, benefiting from a strong Easter trading period as well as slowing inflation and good growth in Ireland, while the momentum of the UK (Grimsby) Seafood turnaround continues. In Europe, the core meat and easier meals business continues to perform well, with volume and revenue ahead of last year. The update added: “In APAC, as expected there has been more normalised volume growth from our three facilities in Australia and our food park in New Zealand, following strong growth in 2023, with revenue seeing some impact from changes in mix and deflation. “We continue to build our long-term partnership with Walmart in Canada and remain on track for the 2027 launch of our multi-protein facility, starting with beef, lamb, pork, seafood, some added-value products and robotised store order picking services”. The company’s Sustainable Protein Plan underpins the Hilton Foods strategy, with ambitious targets across each of its core pillars of People, Planet and Product. With “Planet” and “Product” it had validated revised, more ambitious science-based targets across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions aligned to a 1.5 ̊C pathway and reaching Net Zero by 2048. Looking ahead Hilton said its trading performance since the start of 2024 has been in line with the board’s expectations. The business remains well positioned for the year ahead despite the continued challenging market environment and economic conditions. “Our short and medium-term growth prospects are underpinned by the strength of our multi-category offer and continued progress in our UK Seafood business. “We are well placed to deliver long-term value to all stakeholders through our customer partnerships and with our strong financial position we continue to explore further growth opportunities and wider geographic expansion.”