Birds Eye Meat Free Cumberland

Birds Eye owner Nomad increased prices by 10.6% in Q3

Birds Eye owner Nomad Foods has delivered “strong” sales growth in the third quarter after raising its prices by more than 10% to offset soaring input costs.

Revenues jumped 26.7% to €760m (£668.4m) in the period thanks to the inclusion of sales from the European frozen food business Fortenova, acquired by the group last year.

The top line increased 7.2% on an organic basis despite a 3.4% decline in volumes as it hiked prices by 10.6%.

Price increases also contributed to a 110 basis point increase in gross margins to 29.1%, offseeting higher raw material costs across the business.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 35.3% to €153m (£131.9m), with adjusted profits up 42.6% to €90m (£79.2m).

“Nomad Foods reported another quarter of strong results boosted by our great brands, efficient supply chain and world-class people,” said co-chairman and founder Noam Gottesman.

“Nomad has proven again to be a resilient business as disciplined procurement and supply chain management provided high-quality products with improved service levels and strong margins.”

Nomad, which owns Birds Eye, Aunt Bessie’s and Goodfella’s in the UK, as well as Findus, Iglo and other brands in Europe, also announced a refinancing of its debt facilities.

Gottesman added the debt refinancing represented “another important step in extending our debt profile and controlling costs in a volatile macro environment”.

“Although we see challenges, we also see great areas of opportunity, and we will continue to invest to capture those opportunities.

“We will maintain our focus on accelerating sustainable growth while compounding the value of our results for shareholders. We expect to keep this momentum into 2023 and beyond.”