“Unusually warm weather” in April has impacted the sales of food manufacturer Premier Foods.

In a trading update released this morning, Premier Foods, which makes Branston Pickle, Oxo stock cubes and Quorn vegetarian products, said although sales for January to March were in line with expectations, sales in April had been hit by “unusually warm weather”.

In the RHM business, which Premier acquired earlier this year, overall sales were “slightly ahead” of the previous financial year, with a strong performance in cakes offsetting softer performances in culinary brands and wheat price increases.

Cost savings of £85m following the acquisition of RHM remained on track, Premier said. It plans to close RHM’s head office in Marlow next month.

The group added it had “significantly reduced” the decline in sales that the Campbell’s portfolio had experienced before Premier acquired the business last summer.