Shares in Swiss and Dublin listed food group Aryzta dropped today after it reported a drop in group earnings for the first three months of its financial year.
Aryzta said its revenue declined by 2.1% to just under €844m, which it said reflected the impact from disposals as well as a positive currency impact of 2%.
The company's performance is largely in line with expectations after it announced a major restructuring in its last financial year.
Among its products, Aryzta makes McDonald's hamburger buns, Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and Cuisine de France.
Total revenues at Aryzta's Europe division declined by 3.9% during the quarter to €413.7m.
It said that France, Hungary and Switzerland delivered a solid performance with Germany remaining relatively stable despite the impact of insourcing.
Revenue from its North America division declined by 2.1% to €359.3m during the three month period.
It noted that trading remained difficult across its different channels and said it continues to expect negative comparables in the second quarter.
But revenues at the company's Rest of World division jumped by 9.1% to €70.9m.
Kevin Toland, the company's chief executive, said 2019 saw the company establish foundations on Aryzta's path towards stability, performance and growth.
He said the company's fiscal first quarter revenue had performed in line with expectations.
"The negative Q1 organic revenue performance in our North American business was indicated at the time of our FY19 results. Whilst we expect Q2 revenue in North America to remain negative, we expect to see positive evolution emerge in H2 FY20 as new contract volumes are realised," Mr Toland said.
"We expect further underlying EBITDA growth at a group level for FY20 as the benefits of the second year of Project Renew are being realised," he added.
Shares in the company were lower in Dublin trade today.
