Food group Greencore says its half year group operating profit inched 1.7% higher to €27m compared to the same time last year.
It said group sales of €442m for the six months to March 25 represented a 7.9% increase on the same time last year.
The company said it was optimistic about its ability to drive growth and shareholder value in the months and years ahead.
Greencore said it saw a good performance in its convenience foods division despite the challenging market conditions. Sales grew by 4.3% and the company said this was encouraging given significant disruption from severe weather in four its largest factories in the UK and the US during December and January.
The performance of Greencore's ingredients and property division was impacted by reduced property trading activity and the disposal of Greencore Malt. The division delivered operating profits of €1m for the period, €0.8m lower than the first of 2010.
Earlier this year, Greencore decided not to make a revised offer for the UK's Northern Foods company which was then sold to a third party. The company said today that it was disappointed at not being able to seal a deal with Northern Foods, but said it had learned an enormous amount from the process.
Greencore said that its seasonally more important second half of the year has started well and it continues to experience strong demand for its convenience food offerings.
Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney said there has been a big focus on driving down financing costs following the company's disposal programme last year.
'Clearly, in the last six months we devoted considerable time and resources to corporate development activity and it was disappointing not to be able to execute a combination with Northern Foods.'
'However, we learnt an enormous amount from the process and we are optimistic about our ability to drive growth and shareholder value from both our existing business and from corporate development in the months and years ahead,' he said.
Shares in the company closed down 3.2% to €1.17 in Dublin this evening.
