Bakkavor Group PLC on Wednesday said its first half performance was ‘robust’ in spite of inflationary headwinds, with double digit revenue growth and a 4.9% dividend rise.

For the 26 weeks that ended on June 25, the London-based fresh prepared food company said pretax profit slipped 6.1% to £32.5 million from £34.6 million the year before, but revenue was up 10% to £1.01 billion from £915.7 million.

Like-for-like revenue increased 9.2% on a constant currency basis to £1.0 billion from £915.7 million, reflecting ‘double-digit volume growth in the US and price increases that accelerated through the period in the UK’, the company explained.

Operating profit, however, dipped 13% to £41.1 million from £47.0 million a year prior, held back by Covid-19 related restrictions in China and ‘a lag in inflation recovery and disruption from onboarding new business in the US,’ the firm said.

Chief Executive Officer Agust Gudmundsson said: ‘Against a backdrop of macro uncertainties and inflationary headwinds, our operational delivery has been strong and we have continued to deliver for our customers. We remain confident in our ability to deliver a full year performance in line with the range of market expectations as we continue to focus on managing costs, price recovery, and driving demand in our categories.’

It declared an interim dividend of 2.77 pence, rising 4.9% from the 2.64p payout last year.

Bakkavor said its revenue momentum has continued through July and August and expects its annual revenue in line with the upper end of market expectations. It added that market forecasts sees revenue between £1.99 billion and £2.09 billion.

Shares were up 2.2% at 92.00 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

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