Greencore Group PLC (LON:GNC) said it was on course to hit full-year targets and unveiled new ones for the coming year at a presentation to City investors.
The food-to-go specialist expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to be 16.0p (FY 2018: 15.1p) and the net debt-to-earnings (EBITDA) ratio to be just below 2.0x.
The latter shows how many years it takes to a company to pay back its debt if net debt and underlying earnings (EBITDA) are constant.
READ: Ready meals maker Greencore gobbles up Freshtime
Greencore has been on track in reducing its debt, which was £501.1mln and £519.2mln in 2018 and 2017, respectively.
The update follows the acquisition of salad maker Freshtime for £56mln earlier this month, pushing the number of products on the menu to about 2,500.
Among its targets for next year, the FTSE 250-firm set out to convert half of its adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow and to increase adjusted EPS by a high single-digit percentage.
The focus is diversifying the offer to expand consumer reach in the food-to-go market, which Greencore said it set to grow from the current £5.5bn to £7bn in 2024.
Shares were up 0.18% at 226.00p in late morning trades.