GREENCORE BOOSTED BY UNIQ DEAL - Half year results from Greencore this morning show a near 50% rise in revenues to £567.7m sterling. A good deal of the increase is due to its £113m acquisition of Uniq, a British company which makes ready meals. Pre-tax profit for the six months for the entire Greencore business came to £15.8m.
Greencore's chief executive Patrick Coveney says the company was boosted by the acquisition of Uniq, which he describes as a key player in the premium sandwich market. It also makes salads and desserts. He says the company has changed enormously over the last few years and points out that 80% of its revenue is now generated in the UK with the remainder coming from the US and Ireland. He says the company is now focused on the short shelf-life chilled food and sandwich sector. Mr Coveney says that despite the country's economic problems, demand for food in Ireland is ''robust'' with like for like volumes up over 7%. He says that people are looking for good quality food at competitive prices. The Greencore CEO says the company would like to do more business in the US but he says it is important to get the strategy there correct.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt an educational publishing giant, which grew out of Irish firm Riverdeep, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US. This marks the second attempt to restructure the heavily indebted firm. Riverdeep, headed up by Irishman Barry O'Callaghan, bought US company Houghton Mifflin for $1.75 billion in 2006. A year later it bought another publisher Harcourt for $4 billion. These acquisitions meant HMH built up significant debts. In 2010 it raised $650m in new money from investors to shore up its funding, but that did not work so yesterday it announced a plan to write off $3.1 billion of its near $7 billion debt.
*** The blame game is in full swing overnight as Facebook shares tanked on the Nasdaq in New York yesterday. The shares were down 11% from the closing price on Friday at $34.03 and below the $38 a share the company floated at, which raised $16 billion in the process. A lot of attention is now focussed on the decision by the company's lead underwriters Morgan Stanley to increase the price of the shares last week just before the initial public offering.
*** There was a strong statement of support from the wealthy elite G8 nations for Greece to remain in the euro yesterday and that was backed up by a commitment by France and Germany to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal seemed to boost sentiment.
