Hilton Food Group meat

Good UK performance along with new products in Holland and a new production line in Denmark all contributed to turnover growth in Western Europe in 2013, Hilton Food Group has announced in a trading update.

Tesco’s meat packer announced it had performed “in line with the Board’s expectations” in a trading update for the 52 weeks ended 29 December 2013.

Growth in Holland, Denmark and the UK was partly offset by weak demand in Ireland, which had not yet resumed growth, and steady performance in Sweden, the group said. Trading in Central Europe had been in line with expectations despite challenging market conditions.

“As reported in our recent update regarding Western Europe made on 2nd December 2013, we expect the impact of consumer weakness in Western Europe to be wholly offset over 2014 by the positive effect of our new agreement with Tesco in the UK, for which the full benefit is expected in subsequent years,” it reported.

In December, Hilton announced a five-year deal to supply fresh meat to Tesco, extending the companies’ partnership until February 2019.

The group added that its balance sheet remained strong, leaving it well positioned for future expansion.

Its joint venture operation in Australia continued to make good progress and a large part of its Bunbury plant had been reconfigured, while preparation for the construction of its new Melbourne facility was under way, it added.

Hilton was also now providing support to retailer Woolworths through the operation of its Brismeats facility near Brisbane, it said.