Hilton Foods (Ireland), which has two meat production facilities in Ireland, said “challenging” trading conditions last year contributed to the company making a loss of more than €870,000 for 2022, its latest financial results show.
A year earlier the company had reported a profit of more than €2 million.
Turnover last year for the company, whose operations are based in Drogheda, Co. Louth, also fell back from €137.6 million in 2021 to €124.8 million in 2022.
The directors of Hilton Foods (Ireland) which opened its first site in Ireland in 2004, blamed the downbeat financial performance last year on a combination of factors.
“Trading conditions in the retail sector were very challenging in 2022. Inflation had a significant impact in 2022.
“The company implemented a major restructuring during the year to help mitigate inflation and position itself to remain competitive in the market place,” they stated in the accounts for the year ended December 2022.
The directors also highlighted that the company’s financial position “dis-improved” as its net assets slipped in total value to more than €6.1 million last year compared to over €7.8 million a year earlier.
The latest accounts also highlight that the number of people employed by Hilton Foods (Ireland) fell last year to 239 compared to 359 in 2021.
Total staff costs in 2022 amounted to more than €9.9 million with directors salaries and benefits listed in the accounts as totaling €346,779 – compared to €762,308 in 2021.
However, three directors were also paid by other companies within the Hilton Food Group plc and their salaries and benefits are not disclosed in the Hilton Food (Ireland) accounts.
The accounts detail that the directors have not recommended the payment of a final dividend to shareholders.
They also state in the latest set of accounts that the company is continuing to “work on improving its cost base” and looking at new ways of “improving efficiencies”.
“The company continues to see every opportunity to grow the business both in its product range and customer base,” the directors added.
But they have also warned that the principal risk that Hilton Foods (Ireland) faces is “a small customer base with growth dependent on the success of its customers and growth of the retail packaged protein business”.