In contrast to the many producers shouting about their home-made food with locally sourced ingredients grown in their back garden, Greencore is the sandwich maker unashamed of its heft.
Proudly boasting of being “the world’s largest fresh pre-packaged sandwichmaker” (although the “pre” is an unnecessary ingredient), the Dublin-based firm makes 795 million sarnies, pies, soups, quiches and takeaway items for big supermarkets every year. Unsurprisingly, given its focus on “to-go” foods, Greencore suffered when we stopped “going” during lockdown: shares halved from £2.60 between January 2020 and the Covid explosion in March that year.
Since then, the stock has fallen further, languishing at 60p at the end of 2022, and today changing hands at 80p.
Greencore is now trading at just eight times forward earnings,