Finsbury Food Group PLC (LON:FIF) hiked its dividend as the UK bakery group said it expects the strong sales growth it achieved in the second half of its last financial to continue into the coming 12 months.
In the year ended 29 June, the company posted flat adjusted earnings (EBITDA) of £25.5mln on revenue of £313.mln, a 3.8% rise on last year.
On a like-for-like basis, revenue advanced 4%, with first-half sales up half a percentage point and second-half sales up 7.5%.
Revenues were boosted by the acquisition of gluten-free bakery firm Ultrapharm and product launches such as vegan brioche burger buns and a new line of cakes from celebrity cook Mary Berry.
Finsbury Food raised its dividend by 6.1% to 3.5p.
"In what has been a continued challenging market environment, our sales growth and increased dividend demonstrates our ability to navigate more challenging times and our continued confidence in the prospects of the group,” said chief executive John Duffy.
Looking ahead, he added: “We are confident that the strong second-half performance will continue into the year ahead, as the core business continues to perform well with strong quarter one growth to date, outperforming Finsbury's respective markets.”