Hilton Food Group, the London-listed private-label supplier, is due to see the departure of its long-serving executive and chairman Robert Watson.

Watson, an OBE recipient, will be replaced by consumer goods veteran Mark Allen, who also holds the same service award from the British government, from 1 January as chairman and non-executive director.

Joining the meat, seafood and vegetarian foods group as CEO in 2002, Watson became executive chairman in 2018 and then shifted to a non-executive role as chairman of Hilton Food in January 2021.

“He will remain a long-term committed investor in Hilton Foods,” the company said in a statement alongside the issuance of first-half results today (4 September).

“After more than 20 years at Hilton Foods, the time is right to continue our process of evolving our leadership. I am delighted that Mark is first joining the board and will then succeed me as chair next year,” Watson said.

“I am proud of what we have achieved at Hilton Foods and I will step down in the new year with the business in a stronger position than ever before.”

Allen is chairman of the UK-based and London-listed soft drinks manufacturer AG Barr, a position held since early 2022.

He was previously CEO of Dairy Crest from 2007 to 2019 and has also held non-executive director roles at Halo Foods, Warburtons and Dairy UK, among others. Allen was awarded an OBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list “for services to the UK’s dairy sector”.

Allen said: “I am delighted to be joining a fantastic business, with great people and an excellent leadership team. This is a very exciting time for Hilton Foods and I am looking forward to continuing the excellent progress made so far through Robert’s leadership.”

Hilton reported first-half revenue of ￡1.94bn ($2.5bn), which was down 8.4% on a statutory basis but up 1.1% in like-for-like terms.

Volumes for the 26 weeks to 30 June, compared to a 28-week reporting period a year earlier, were up 3.2%.

Adjusted operating profit of ￡46.9m rose 12.2% on a reported basis and was up 42.3% and 23.2% in statutory and like-for-like terms, respectively.

Statutory profit before tax came in at ￡25.4m versus ￡11.3m, while basic EPS landed at 18.8p compared to 7.6p a year earlier.

Steve Murrells CBE, who took over as Hilton’s CEO from Philip Heffer last summer, said: “These results represent another step forward as Hilton Foods further improves business performance and profitability.

“As I look ahead, Hilton Foods has all the right attributes in place. Our strong financial platform, unique multi-category offer, and market-leading technology adds to my confidence in the group’s ability to achieve further international growth.”