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Top Food & Drink employer warns of sales dip
News Article Published:
Monday, 09 July 2007 Category:
Food and drink
Premier Foods, one of the UK's leading Food & Drink employers, has announced that its sales for the first six months of 2007 were slightly down on last year.
The firm, which is behind some of Britain's best loved food brands including Hovis bread, Branston Pickle and OXO stock cubes, said that hot weather in April and its exit from low-margin own label contracts had seen its like-for-like sales figures so far this year drop slightly compared to the opening half of 2006.
The company also announced, however, that sales had increased sharply over May and June, making it confident of meeting its full-year targets.
Premier added that the first half of 2007 had also seen something of a "step-change" as it looked to integrate RHM - the firm behind Mr Kipling cakes - and the UK arm of soup producer Campbell's following their recent acquisition.
Premier, which offers graduate employment opportunities in a range of areas including sales, management, food technology and finance, is currently in a period of mass upheaval and reorganisation, having recently announced plans to extend its Hovis, OXO and Loyd Grossman sauce ranges, but to sell off its frozen food arm and to shut six of its factories by 2009.