A YORKSHIRE food firm says its outlook is tasty after a promising start to the year on the sales front.

Greencore Group plc, which employs around 600 people at its 23-acre Selby site, has published its interim results for the half-year ended March 28, and the company is in positive mood despite a 14 per cent decline in pre-tax profits.

The Greencore Grocery in Barlby Road is one of the UK's leading manufacturers of bottled recipes such as cooking sauces, sweet and sour pickles, salad dressings, table sauces and dips.

The company also has bases in Hull, Sheffield and West Yorkshire, and its Selby operation is the largest cooking sauce facility in Europe.

Greencore Group's interim results, published yesterday, showed a 2.5 per cent increase on revenues to £648.7 million (£516.67 million) and an identical rise in the group operating profit to £41.1 million (£32.7 million).

The good news was tempered by pre-tax profits falling to £30m (£24m), but the group's chief executive, Patrick Coveney, said: "These results represent very good business in an environment characterised by substantial food inflation and a significant decline in the value of sterling against the euro.

"On a constant currency basis, we delivered strong double-digit growth in sales, profit and earnings per share.

"This performance reflects a portfolio which is working, strong customer relationships across convenience foods and malt, excellent cost control and good inflation recovery.

"Furthermore, we acquired Ministry of Cake and Danone Flavoured Water, both in the UK, in December and Home Made Brand Foods, in the USA, in April. These acquisitions are bang in line with our strategy of extending our category-leading businesses in the UK and entering the US chilled food market in the right way."

Over the last decade, "considerable" investment has been ploughed into the Selby site, and Greencore says it now boasts "some of the most modern, hygienic and efficient production facilities in the UK."

The Greencore Grocery produces around 150 million jars of food every year across 1,400 different product lines, and supplies every major food retailer in the UK as well as a number of major global brands.

The company currently supplies products to 21 countries.