Greencore, the convenience food manufacturer with facilities in the UK and US, reported revenue of £639.6m in its third quarter to the end of June, an increase of 0.5% on the same three months last year.

On a like-for-like basis, revenue increased by 8.1% in the quarter. This sees year-to-date revenue at the sandwich maker at £1.9bn, up 14% on the same nine months last year.

The growth in the quarter was driven by Greencore's convenience foods business in the UK and Ireland, where revenue increased 1.4% to £376m in the quarter and is up 5.2% for the year to date.

The main growth was primarily driven by an increased revenue contribution from the distribution of third-party products through its direct-to-store network.

Reported revenue in other parts of this division decreased by 12.8% in the third quarter, reflecting the elimination of cake and dessert revenue. Once these are stripped out, revenue increased 2.5%.

The phased closure of Greencore's English dessert manufacturing facility in Evercreech was completed in June and the site was subsequently divested. Greencore is also now proposing to phase out some of its ready meal manufacturing at Kiveton.

Its US division reported a 0.8% decline in third-quarter revenues to £264m, though on a like-for-like basis revenues were up 8.6%. This was driven by its 2016 acquisition of Peacock Foods, where growth accelerated to 19.4%. The company says there was good volume growth.

Senior appointments

Greencore also announced this morning that it has appointed ex-General Mills senior executive Anton Vincent as the CEO of Greencore USA. In the UK, it appointed Peter Haden, currently group COO, to a newly created role of CEO of Greencore UK.

Greencore reiterated its FY18 guidance of adjusted EPS in the range of 14.7p to 15.7p.