Greencore has announced a U-turn on its decision to return £509m (€578m) to its shareholders via a special dividend. The company proposed the special dividend after the sale of its US business for $1.1bn (€930m) in October. The U-turn is due to shareholder concern that the special dividend would incur an income tax liability for shareholders. Instead, the group will now use a share tender offer to return the £509m to shareholders. Under this process, Greencore will distribute the funds by buying back shares from shareholders, which is more tax efficient.

Greencore announced the change in tack as it reported a slight fall (-0.6%) in adjusted pre-tax profits to £79.6m (€90m) for its 2018 financial year. Revenues in its UK and Ireland business increased more than 4% for the year to £1.5bn (€1.7bn), while adjusted operating profits increased 1.7% to just under £105m (€118m).

These full year results relate solely to Greencore’s UK and Ireland business, having completed the sale of its US business last month. The group has proposed a full year dividend of 5.57p per share.