HJ Heinz Manufacturing Ireland Ltd reported that its pre-tax profits for the seven months to end of December 2014 fell by 75 per cent to £2.87 million.
Revenues were £52.85 million, a fall of 42 per cent.
While one of the main reasons for the substantial falls was the fact that the accounting period was seven months as opposed to 12 months in the previous period, it was not the only reason.
Taking the change in accounting period on board, profit fell by 8.2 per cent and revenues fell by 21 per cent.
The company said that decline in the frozen ready-meal category and the horsemeat scandal affected revenues. In addition, the rise in discount retailers in Ireland, in conjunction with a difficult Irish grocery market, had an impact on the results.
The structural changes within the company, which have seen HJ Heinz Ireland acquired by HJ Heinz Holding corporation, have also played a part. The restructuring has meant that goods produced by the Irish company, which has traditionally produced frozen ready-meals, are sold to a supply chain hub in the Netherlands at an agreed price.
However, the company commented that, "while in overall market terms the company's core categories have declined consistent with the softness in the Irish grocery trade, the company has grown relative market share".
The company expects that the market conditions will remain difficult but it will continue to focus on reducing costs and it is, "confident that the business will continue to be successful moving forward".
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine – Europe’s grocery retail magazine, for all your breaking supermarket, convenience store and FMCG news. Article written by Nicole Gernon
To sign up to ESM’s weekly e-zine newsletter, send an email with the subject ‘Subscribe ESM news’ to [email protected].
