The leader of the pack in the factory trade was Archie Watson of Moy Meats, who was a true practical meat and cattle man and his partner Harry Aicheson. Anyone with an interest is racing will remember his great brace of horses in the early seventies “French Tan” and “Flashy Boy”.
They sold their meat plant in the early seventies for well over a million pounds and I used to handle their farm cattle at our meat plant in Enniskillen, while they were without a plant.
Just like the apples Armagh is famous for, in the case of Robert Watson Archie’s son, the " Apple did not fall far from the Tree”. In 1974 Archie was asked to take over and run a new council abattoir in Derry that was going to be built. In 1977 he put young Robert in the plant to learn his trade.
Robert joined Hilton as Chief Executive in 2002 and has overseen the successful growth of the Group to date. Prior to this, he worked for the Foyle Food Group ('Foyle'), which he founded with his father and partner in 1977. At Foyle, he worked his way up through various positions to become Chief Executive Officer in 1987, and led Foyle through significant turnover growth.
Operating profit was up marginally by 0.5%, to £13.3m, but operating profit margin fell to 2.4% this year, compared to 2.7% in the corresponding period last year. The dip reflected “consumer downtrading in a challenging economic environment,” the company said in a statement. Excluding the impact of adverse exchange rate movements, operating profit would have been 2.5%, the company said.
In a note on the results, Shore Capital analyst Darren Shirley wrote: “The primary driver of activity was the relatively new operation in Denmark, with revenues and volumes in Hilton’s established markets (the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden) we believe under pressure from the tough economic conditions.” Shore gave a ‘sell’ recommendation (from hold) off the back of the results.
Watson forecast full-year results would be similar to those for the first half.
The results came as the first half of a full year’s trading from the company’s newly operational Danish facility was included in the accounts. Volumes grew 10.3% during the period, compared to last year.
Hilton said consumer downtrading had manifested itself in a 2% increase in mince (including products such as burgers which use mince).
Hilton Food Group plc is a leading specialist meat-packing business supplying major international food retailers, primarily Tesco, Ahold, Albert Heijn and ICA from state of the art facilities located in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland and our newest facility in Denmark to supply Coop Danmark.
Hilton’s business model is to source its Primal Meat from a local and global base of quality suppliers, which it then processes and packs in large scale, modern, central meat-packing plants for onward distribution by third party hauliers. These plants operate at the high volume levels necessary to produce competitive unit packing costs, whilst achieving the levels of hygiene, food safety assurance, shelf life and product quality required by the Group’s discerning customer base.
Rapid growth has been achieved both by geographical expansion, product range extensions and the underlying growth in the market achieved by Hilton’s retail customers. Hilton is now the largest dedicated packer of red meat in Europe based on revenue. With its headquarters in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the Group now employs in excess of 1,900 people across its six European sites.
Hilton Food Group plc floated on the London Stock Exchange on 17th May 2007.
History
Hilton’s business was established in 1994 to set up and operate a beef and lamb central meat packing facility in Huntingdon, England. This facility has grown rapidly over the last 12 years and the Group has recently invested in a new factory on the site incorporating an additional six production lines.
Following its success in the UK market, in 1999 Hilton acquired a beef and lamb packing facility, in Zaandam, the Netherlands. Like the UK operations, this has grown successfully, with output rising by 138% over the last six years to 31 December 2006. Since 2005, the product range supplied has been increased to include packed pork products.
The Group subsequently set up a similar beef, lamb and pork packing facility in Drogheda, Republic of Ireland which opened in spring 2004.
This was followed in the autumn of 2004 by a beef, lamb and pork packing facility in Vasteras, Sweden, and in September 2006, by a beef, lamb and pork packing facility, at Tychy, Poland.
Each of Hilton’s central meat packing plants are operated on a dedicated basis for Hilton customers. Hilton’s business model has been adapted to meet local requirements with customers in each country.
Hilton Food Group is on track to smash through the £1 billion sales mark this year, following a strong performance from the group’s Danish business, CEO Robert Watson has claimed.
Hilton – a major meat packer for Tesco – reported a 10.4% year-on-year rise in pre-tax profit, to £24.5m, in the 52 weeks to 1 January 2011 on the back of a 13.6% increase in sales. Growth in 2011 largely been driven by a new facility in Denmark, the company said in a statement. “You’d have to expect with that, and some other growth around the business, that we would go for a billion in 2012,” Watson told The Grocer.
Watson attributed a 0.1 percentage point drop in margin from 2.7% in 2010, to 2.6% last year, partially to a time lag in recouping higher input costs. However, he remained confident the company would achieve its “ambition” of 3%, although he did not give a timeline for doing so.
Operating profit was up marginally by 0.5%, to £13.3m, but operating profit margin fell to 2.4% this year, compared to 2.7% in the corresponding period last year. The dip reflected “consumer downtrading in a challenging economic environment,” the company said in a statement. Excluding the impact of adverse exchange rate movements, operating profit would have been 2.5%, the company said.
In a note on the results, Shore Capital analyst Darren Shirley wrote: “The primary driver of activity was the relatively new operation in Denmark, with revenues and volumes in Hilton’s established markets (the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden) we believe under pressure from the tough economic conditions.” Shore gave a ‘sell’ recommendation (from hold) off the back of the results.
Hilton would not reveal specific UK figures but chief executive Robert Watson told The Grocer the group was “very confident” in achieving UK growth in the long term. “It is a very challenging economic environment – we are faced with rising raw material costs so we have to make sure we continually adjust the offer.”
Watson forecast full-year results would be similar to those for the first half.
The results came as the first half of a full year’s trading from the company’s newly operational Danish facility was included in the accounts. Volumes grew 10.3% during the period, compared to last year.
Hilton said consumer downtrading had manifested itself in a 2% increase in mince (including products such as burgers which use mince).