United Kingdom-Hilton Foods.

UNITED KINGDOM-MEAT COMPANY LIFTS TURNOVER.

TURNOVER at Hilton Foods jumped by 26.3 per cent in the year to 31 December to £729.5 million, with the meat packer yesterday reporting sales growth in all of its markets.

Hilton – which has factories in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden – supplies meat to supermarket chains Tesco, Ahold, Albert Heijn and ICA.

Pre-tax profit rose by 11.6 per cent to £17.3m, prompting the board to propose a 10.4 per cent hike in the final dividend to 5.74p.

Increasing the final dividend boosted the total pay-out for the year to 8.14p, up from 7.6p in 2007.

Hilton said there had been "strong" turnover growth at its factory in southern Poland, which supplies meat to Tesco stores in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

The group added that its factory extension at Drogheda, in Ireland – to produce bacon and sausage products – had been completed on time and on budget in August and that the initial volumes had been "encouraging".

Gordon Summerfield, chairman of Hilton, which has a market cap of about £100m, said: "Whilst our business will not be immune to the worsening economic climate, the board expects, with a strong model, to achieve further progress in 2009."