Hilton Food Group

HFG.L

Packaged Foods · Consumer Defensive

Price

616.00 GBp

+1.50 (+0.24%)

Market Cap

£554.1M

Exchange

London Stock Exchange

Winston Score

Winston is serious

Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.

Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Dec 31, 2025

How the score breaks down

Quality

Weak

Growth

Mixed

Cash Flow

Good

Stability

Mixed

Valuation

Good

Dividends

Exceptional

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Share count rising — dilution

+8.2% over 4y

The company has issued more shares over this period, which dilutes each existing shareholder’s stake.

Diluted shares outstanding: 83.6M (2021) → 90.4M (2025)

Winston Score History

The full picture

Hilton Food Group is a food packaging and processing company based in the United Kingdom. It takes raw meat, seafood, and plant-based foods and packages them for sale in supermarkets. Its main customers are large grocery retailers, including Tesco, Woolworths in Australia, and other major chains across Europe and beyond.

Hilton makes money by charging retailers for the processing and packaging of food products, earning a small margin on each unit it handles. The company operates across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia, making it a mid-sized player in the global food supply chain. Its main competitive advantage is its deep, long-term contracts with a small number of powerful retail partners, which provides steady but concentrated revenue. The biggest risk the business faces is customer concentration — losing or renegotiating a contract with one major retailer could significantly hurt its earnings, and its thin margins leave little room for cost surprises.

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+3.8% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow revenue growth

EPS Growth

+40.0% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Strong earnings growth

R&D Spend

£0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (2%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

15.3%ownership

→ Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

£210M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth context

Hilton Food Group is growing revenue at 4% year-over-year. The Winston Score measures business quality today — these growth metrics show what could matter tomorrow.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

Each metric is explained in plain language so you know exactly what you're looking at. Start your free trial now.

Quality

Profit per sale

Gross Margin

8.3%

Thin — 8.3% gross margin

Profit after running costs

Operating Margin

1.0%

Thin — 1.0% operating margin

Return on the money invested

ROCE

9.7%

Below par — 9.7% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales growth

Sales YoY

+5.7%

Slow sales growth (+5.7% YoY)

Profit growth

EPS YoY

+20.5%

Earnings growing fast (+20.5% YoY)

Healthy double-digit earnings growth — what compounders look like.

How steady the profit is

EPS Consistency

3/8 quarters

Earnings rarely grow — volatile business

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash

Cash Conversion

144%

Turns 144% of profit into real cash

Spare cash per sale

FCF Margin

-0.5%

Burning cash (-0.5%)

Free cash flow is negative. They are burning cash, not generating it.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns

Debt / Equity

0.76

Moderate — manageable debt (0.76)

Covers its interest

Interest Cover

1.84x

Dangerous — barely covers interest (1.8x)

Interest coverage between 1 and 3. Profits cover interest, but with little room to spare.

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Valuation

Price vs profit

P/E Ratio (TTM)

11.6x

Attractive valuation — P/E 11.6

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year

P/E vs Forward

+0.1

GROWING

Earnings roughly flat

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Dividends

Dividend

Dividend Yield

6.38%

Healthy income — 6.38% yield

Yield above 6% — often a flag the market is pricing in a cut.

Dividend record

Dividend Growth

+12.6%

Dividend growing fast (12.6% YoY)

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