British food group Associated British Foods, the maker of Twinings tea, reported a top of the range six per cent rise in half-year profits on Wednesday and said it was committed to generating strong cash flows and sustainable growth, reports Reuters.
The company, whose brands include Silver Spoon sugar and Kingsmill bread, said despite some uncertainty in the global economy it was confident of achieving its budget for further growth in sales and profits during the second half.
The tightly-held group, which earns the bulk of its profits from British Sugar, Primark discount clothes stores and its one billion pound (€1.6bn) plus cash pile, said half-year pre-tax profits before exceptionals rose to £192 million for the 24 weeks to 2 March, on sales up two per cent at £2.1 billion.
"These results demonstrate strong growth across four of our five business categories....We remain committed to the generation of strong cash flow and sustainable growth and will continue to develop our group businesses to achieve these goals," said group chief executive Peter Jackson.
Jackson said four of its divisions - agricultural businesses, food ingredients, grocery and Primark had shown double digit profits growth while the performance at the fifth, George Weston Foods in Australia, remained unacceptable.
Analysts had forecast pre-tax profits of £185-192 million.The Weston family holds around 60 per cent of the company's shares. The stock has been one of the best performers in the FTSE 100 over the last year, outperforming the index by 35 per cent and the Dow Jones Euro food and beverage index by nearly 20 per cent. The shares closed Tuesday at 535 pence.