Hilton Food Group PLC on Wednesday said it has hired the current chair of soft drinks maker AG Barr PLC to be its own chair, as it reported half-year results, boosting its interim payout.

Hilton Food Group is a Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire-based ‘multi-protein producer’. It operates food processing, packing and logistics facilities across 19 markets in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America.

Pretax profit more than doubled to £25.8 million in the 26 weeks that ended June 30 from £11.3 million in the 28 weeks that ended July 16, 2023. Adjusted pretax profit was £33.5 million, up 25% from £26.8 million, and adjusted operating profit was £46.9 million, up 12% from £46.9 million.

This was despite revenue declining by 8.4% to £1.94 billion from £2.12 billion.

At constant currency rates and based on both years being 26 weeks long, revenue rose by 1.0%, adjusted pretax profit by 38% and adjusted operating profit by 23%.

Hilton Food declared a 9.6 pence per share interim dividend, up 6.7% from 9.0p a year before.

The company has hired Mark Allen to be its next non-executive chair, joining the board on October 1 and replacing Robert Watson on January 1. Allen is the chair of Irn-Bru-maker AG Barr and previously was CEO of Dairy Crest Group for 12 years.

Watson was chief executive of Hilton Food from 2002 until 2018, when he moved to executive chair. In 2021, he then moved to non-executive chair.

Looking ahead, Hilton Food said it is trading in line with expectations for the full year.

‘These results represent another step forward as Hilton Foods further improves business performance and profitability,’ commented Chief Executive Officer Steve Murrells.

‘Our core meat category performed particularly well, driving volume growth, while the continued positive momentum in our seafood business has helped to underpin profit performance.’

Hilton Food shares were down 2.2% at 952.00p on Wednesday morning in London. The wider FTSE 250 index was down 0.7%.

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