Hilton Food to focus on core meat business as profit falls in 2025
Hilton Food Group PLC on Tuesday reported higher revenue but lower profit for 2025, said it will focus on its core meat business after a strategic review, and left its guidance unchanged for 2026.
The Huntingdon, England-based food packaging company said pretax profit fell 2.3% to £56.1 million in 2025 from £57.4 million in 2024.
Revenue climbed 10% to £4.21 billion from £3.82 billion, but administrative expenses jumped 14% to £336.5 million from £296.1 million.
The firm declared an unchanged final dividend of 24.9 pence per share, taking its total dividend for 2025 to 35.0p, up 1.4% from 34.5p for 2024.
Hilton Food reported adjusted pretax profit including discontinued operations of £73.2 million, within the expected range but down 3.8% from £76.1 million the year before. Adjusted pretax profit from continuing operations was £69.0 million, 2.1% lower than £70.5 million.
Looking ahead, Hilton Food said its 2026 outlook is unchanged since its trading update in January. It still expects adjusted pretax profit to decline to between £60 million and £65 million.
‘Our core retail meat offering is a resilient business. Despite continued raw material inflation, the strength of our customer relationships and consistent delivery has underpinned our performance,’ said Executive Chair Mark Allen.
‘Inflation has more materially impacted demand and profitability in Seachill. We continue to address challenges in Foppen and Dalco. Overall, we remain confident in our outlook for 2026.’
Separately, Hilton Food Executive Chair Allen will become chief executive officer.
The company said it has started a search for a new non-executive chair, which will be led by Senior Independent Director Patricia Dimond.
Allen will remain in post as executive chair until a new non-executive chair is appointed.
Back in November, Allen moved to executive chair from non-executive chair after CEO Steve Murrells stepped down with immediate effect.
On Tuesday, Hilton Food said it has completed its strategic review, which could result in some business disposals.
Executive Chair Allen said: ‘Our strategic review outlines a clear plan to focus the business on its core capabilities and strengthens our confidence in delivering sustainable long-term growth. We are executing improvement plans in Seachill, Foppen and Dalco, businesses that have limited synergy with the group’s core capabilities, to increase strategic optionality.’
The firm said growth will be driven by its core meat and prepared food businesses, helped by ‘well-invested facilities and long-term partnerships’.
Looking ahead, Hilton Food said it remains cautious on the ‘broader inflationary environment’ and potential impacts from the conflict in the Middle East.
However, it said core volumes have ‘held up well’ in the first quarter and 2026 trading has been in line with its expectations. The firm said it remains positive on the medium-term outlook.
Shares in Hilton Food were up 3.4% at 508.00p on Tuesday morning in London.
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