The loss was primarily due to an £83.9m impairment charge following a restructuring of the business, which saw its brands such as Mr Kiplings and Cadbury’s Mini rolls into a Sweet Treats division.
The company changed its financial year to end on April 4th 2015, from December 31st 2013, to better fit the seasonal nature of the business.
For the 15-month period, revenue was £964.3m, with a trading profit of £150.2m. The company saw a basic loss per share of 12.7 pence and adjusted earnings per share increased by 9.0 pence.
Premier Foods also released a set of unaudited pro forma results for the comparative 12-month period from April 4th 2015 and April 5th 2014. The headline figures from the results include a 4% decrease in branded sales to £683.7m, a 6.4% decrease in trading profit to £131m, an 11.1% increase in adjusted profit before tax to £83.2m, and a 48.9% decrease in adjusted earnings per share to 8.0 pence.
Gavin Darby, chief executive officer at Premier Foods, said: “For the last quarter, I am pleased to again report an improving sales trend, which has benefitted from a combination of brand investment, exciting new products and strong retail execution.
“While it was encouraging to note the return of volume growth to both our categories and the wider grocery market, we expect the near term trading environment to be challenging, and our expectations for the year are unchanged.
“I remain confident that our strategy of investing in brands, innovation and infrastructure is the right one for Premier Foods, and see increasing evidence that our efforts are starting to pay off.
“The Board is firmly focused on the creation of future value, and believes that its investment and growth strategies, combined with a focus on cost efficiency, trading profit delivery and organic de-leveraging are well positioned to deliver success.”