Hilton Foods has cut its profit forecast for the year as its seafood business continues to suffer due to a shutdown of its Greek factory.
The group has faced problems with Foppen, its smoked salmon business, after the US restricted shipments from a factory in Greece.
While Hilton Foods has not fully explained the issue, Shore Capital analysts previously suggested there could be a contamination at the site.
The business said this week it had implemented actions to address the issues, but the ongoing US government shutdown had resulted in a delay to the approvals for the facility to restart production.
It therefore does not expect production to resume until next year.
As a result, Hilton Foods now expects pre-tax profits to fall between £72m and £75m this year, down from the £76.8m to £81m range it forecast in September.
Given the disruption at Foppen and inflationary pressure, the board was also now “more cautious on the trading outlook for 2026 and as such expects profit progression in the next financial year to be difficult”, it said in a statement.
The FTSE 250 company’s stock dropped 18% when it first announced the smoked salmon issues in September.
Its seafood division is also affected by falling demand for white-fish amid high inflation. This is partly driven by a cut in fishing quotas from the Barents Sea, which has reduced global supplies of cod and haddock.
Its red meat and convenience volumes were still “solid”, Hilton said, although ongoing inflation was weighing on demand.
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