Despite the inflationary challenges impacting the broader food industry, Greencore said there has been ‘limited’ demand impact to date in the group’s categories.

The company said it will continue to monitor the impact of increased prices at a consumer level closely.

It said profit momentum improved during the three month period, driven by volume growth and better conversion due to enhanced productivity.

Gary Kennedy, Executive Chair of Greencore, said: “I am encouraged by the progress we have made during Q3 against the backdrop of inflationary pressures for the industry.

“Revenue and profit conversion through the period has been encouraging and we are confident in our ability to continue to manage the various industry challenges and end the year strongly.

“Our leading market positions, close customer relationships and intense focus on efficiencies mean that we look to the future with optimism, and we expect to deliver a strong year on year improvement in profitability, cash flow and returns for FY22.”

Greencore is due to report its full year results for the year ending 30 September 2022 on 29 November 2022.

It said it expects to generate a full year Adjusted Operating Profit outturn of between £72m and £77m.

The company noted a “substantial” increase in inflation in its main cost components in the first half of 2022.

Gary Kennedy, Greencore’s Executive Chair, said the company delivered H1 revenues that are back above pre-Covid levels, which is a great achievement against a backdrop of mobility restrictions, supply challenges and emerging inflation.

“There has been encouraging momentum in revenue and profit conversion in the first seven weeks of H2, and we are confident in our ability to navigate our way through the current well-publicised macro challenges as we enter our peak seasonal trading period,” Mr Kennedy said.

“Our strong market positions, close customer relationships and intense focus on efficiencies mean that we look to the future with optimism, and we expect to deliver a full year out-turn in line with market expectations,” he added.

Earlier this month Greencore appointed Dalton Philips as its new chief executive and executive director.

Mr Philips, the chief executive of airports operator daa, will join Greencore in September and replaces Patrick Coveney who left the company at the end of March to take up the CEO job at SSP Group, an operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations including Upper Crust.

In today’s results statement, Greencore said that the UK trading environment, especially in food to go categories, continued to recover in the six months to the end of March, despite some demand volatility caused by mobility restrictions associated with the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in December and January.

The company said it also benefitted from its strong market position in the grocery retail channel, its expanded customer and format mix, and its portfolio across food to go and other convenience categories.

During the six month period, Greencore said it launched over 600 new or reformulated products within its range of about 2,000 products.

Examples of launches with key customers this year include fresh meals in food to go categories, fresh noodle pots, new plant based ready meals, and an extended range of ‘dine-at-home’ meal boxes.

It also expanded its product offering in the salads and fresh meals categories and worked closely with one of its key food to go customers to extend its offering into the store network of a leading UK coffee shop retailer.

Greencore’s other convenience categories comprise activities in the chilled ready meals, chilled soups and sauces, chilled quiche, ambient sauces and pickles, and frozen Yorkshire Pudding categories, as well as an Irish ingredient trading business.

Greencore said it intends to restart value return to shareholders of up to £50m over the next two years, initially in the form of a share buyback programme.

He will replace Patrick Coveney who left the company at the end of March to take up the CEO job at SSP Group, an operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations including Upper Crust.

Mr Philips has been daa CEO since October 2017 and was previously the CEO of Morrisons, the UK’s fourth largest supermarket chain, between 2010 and 2015.

He has also worked with the George Weston Group, including as COO of Loblaw Companies Limited, the leading Canadian grocery retailer, and CEO of Brown Thomas Group.

Gary Kennedy, Executive Chairman of Greencore, said that as well as his outstanding knowledge of the grocery sector, Dalton Philips has a strong track record of leading dynamic consumer-related businesses.

“We see him as the ideal candidate to lead Greencore into the next phase of its journey as it continues to emerge strongly from the challenges of trading through the pandemic,” he said.

Until Mr Philips’s arrival at the end of September, Mr Kennedy said he will continue in the role of Executive Chair, supported by Kevin Moore, the company’s Deputy CEO, and Emma Hynes, its CFO.

Dalton Philips said he was hugely excited to be joining Greencore.

“I know from my time as a Greencore customer that this is a business with exceptional dynamism, adaptability and ambition, and one that is committed to the highest levels of product quality, customer service, and sustainability,” he said.

“I am looking forward very much to joining their industry-leading team in September, and to helping to realise the significant future growth potential that I see for this business,” he added.

This was despite some limited impact on demand from the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in December.

In a trading update for the 13 weeks to December 24, Greencore said revenues were 7.5% above equivalent pre-Covid levels in the first quarter of 2019.

Pro forma revenue in food to go categories increased by 34.9% year on year and was 6.1% above equivalent pre-Covid levels in 2019. Pro forma revenue growth in other convenience categories was 13.1% year on year and 10.3% above equivalent pre-Covid levels in 2019.

Greencore said that it continued to progress well with the recovery of input cost and other inflation with customers, but added that the pace of profit conversion continued to be impacted by industry wide supply chain and labour challenges.

It also noted that supply chain and labour challenges remain elevated across the UK food industry, exacerbated by the impact of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

In November, the company said that Patrick Coveney would step down as CEO in March, to become Group CEO of SSP Group, an operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations including Upper Crust.

The company says the process of appointing to appoint a new CEO is ongoing and an update on the appointment will be provided in “due course”.

Greencore also announced a new share ownership scheme and colleague wellbeing centre. Under the share ownership scheme, the business has given almost 12,000 workers about £250 worth of Greencore shares each.

The cost of these shares, to be held for three years, is being covered by Greencore, giving colleagues a free opportunity to become shareholders in the company.

The colleague wellbeing centre, which went live earlier this month, is a free online portal for Greencore colleagues to access health and wellbeing support.