Although it ended up giving back the majority of its early gains, the Freedom Foods Group Ltd (ASX: FNP) share price finished the day higher on Thursday following the release of a trading update at its annual general meeting.
At one stage its shares rose as much as 4.5% to a 52-week high of $5.21, before ending the day approximately 0.5% higher at $5.00.
What was in the update?
Due largely to strong demand for its food products locally and internationally, Freedom Foods has decided to lift its FY 2018 sales guidance to between $360 million and $380 million.
This compares to its previous guidance of $340 million to $360 million and will be an increase of between 30% and 37% on FY 2017's result.
According to management, the real growth driver for the company has been its UHT business in Shepparton which has seen demand increase very strongly. Pleasingly, in order to capture this increasing demand, the company has invested heavily to lift its production volumes sharply.
It will need to deliver strong bottom line growth this year, though. Based on its last close price, Freedom Foods' shares are changing hands at approximately 124x trailing earnings.
