LONDON, June 10, 2026, 13:02 BST
- Greencore gained 1.88% to 197.75p as the FTSE 250 slipped.
- Chair Leslie Van de Walle and a related party picked up 125,000 Greencore shares at £1.949 apiece, according to a fresh RNS filing.
- Investors are still trying to balance Bakkavor integration savings with cash outflows, debt, and one-off deal costs, so the move is getting attention.
Greencore Group stock moved higher in London on Wednesday after new insider buying was reported, coming two weeks after the company’s first results following its Bakkavor deal. Shares traded at 197.75 GBX as of 13:02 BST, up 3.65p or 1.88%. The session range so far: 194.00p to 197.80p.
Greencore rose 1.80%, beating the FTSE 250’s 0.28% drop. That outperformance put the focus squarely on news around the company rather than the rest of the mid-cap market, data from Hargreaves Lansdown show.
Greencore’s non-exec chair Leslie Van de Walle picked up 125,000 shares on June 9, buying at £1.949 each, according to a new filing. The person associated with him was part of the purchase, taking the total to about £243,625. The update, posted Wednesday, said trading guidance is unchanged.
Director buying isn’t proof a stock is cheap, but timing counts. Greencore is working to persuade investors the Bakkavor buy will create enough savings and scale to make up for the deal’s early costs. Data on director trades confirm that Van de Walle and chief executive Dalton Philips bought in late May and early June.
BlackRock has pushed its total voting-rights stake in Greencore to 5.02%, or 40,361,271 voting rights, after sitting below 5% before. The new level crossed the reportable threshold on June 4, with Greencore notified on June 8.
Bakkavor is still the main focus. Greencore finished buying it on January 16, saying the deal made it the UK’s top fresh convenience-food maker. The first-half numbers, out on May 27, showed pro forma revenue up 3.2% to £1.318 billion and pro forma adjusted operating profit up 15.3% to £73.3 million. Adjusted operating profit is Greencore’s main figure for core earnings before certain costs.
But investors were unimpressed by Greencore’s numbers. The group posted an operating loss of £13.4 million after making an operating profit of £38.1 million last year. Free cash flow fell to negative £76 million. Free cash flow is what’s left after running the business and required investment.
Greencore shares fell early after a first-half operating loss tied to the £1.2 billion Bakkavor deal. Halifax’s Sharecast cited acquisition costs as the reason for the swing into loss. Greencore was down 5.8% at 225.80p by 09:40 BST on the day it reported. Russ Mould at AJ Bell said the “significant costs associated with the deal have scarred these results,” but pointed out there’s still some integration potential. Halifax Broker
Greencore says the deal is on course. Chief executive Dalton Philips called the Bakkavor integration “progressing well and to plan.” The company kept its goal for at least £80 million in yearly cost synergies within three years. Synergies mean the savings or benefits from merging two firms. Investegate
Director buying can’t solve Greencore’s operating issues. The group’s leverage ratio climbed to 2.3 times earnings from 0.8 times, thanks to negative free cash flow tied to working-capital timing and costs from the Bakkavor integration. Greencore is also looking to sell the US business it got with Bakkavor. Any divestment depends on price and execution, but could help streamline.
Greencore pointed to some nearer-term upsides for bulls. The company said it picked up new business across salads, sushi, ambient grocery and desserts, with onboarding set for the third and fourth quarters. Greencore expects the new contracts to support volume gains and add around one percentage point to annualised revenue growth.
Greencore’s next major test comes July 22, when it’s set to release a third-quarter trading statement. Investors want to see if the strong trading, first wins with customers and Bakkavor savings are translating into cash generation as well as adjusted profit.
