The Swiss-Irish business – which has operations in the UK, the US and Africa – now expects low single-digit underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation growth for the full year, down from the mid-to-high single-digit growth it predicted in November.
Aryzta saw revenue grow 4.5% to €847.9m (£752.6m) compared with the same period last year, with its European arm making the bulk of the company’s sales – up 4.4% year-on-year to €427m (£379m).
However, sales for the company in the nine months to 30 April 2019 were down 1.5% to €2.55bn (£2.27bn), with a 4.9% dip in US sales, thanks to costs surrounding disposals.
Consistent improvement
Chief executive Kevin Toland said this third-quarter performance followed a consistent period of improving sales performance and showed sequential improvement to the group’s organic revenue.
He added: “We are addressing the challenges presented to our business, particularly in the North American market where sales stabilisation continues to be challenging while profitability has been stabilised.
“Continued stabilisation of the business, delivering for our customer base and realising the expected benefits from Project Renew remains our absolute focus within the current financial year.”
UK disposal
Project Renew has already seen massive changes across the business, including the disposal of one of its UK facilities – an area of the business which the company said remained challenging during the reported period.
Aryzta said the programme was on track to save the company €40m (£35.5m) in 2019, with the full effect to benefit earnings in 2020. Key achievements of the project included a major downsizing of its US management organisation and a restructuring of its German sales and marketing structure.
Meanwhile, last month, Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods remained a “zombie company” in the minds of analysts, as the business posted a £42.7m loss in its full-year results ended 30 March 2019.
