UPDATE 3-Premier Foods FY sales up, mulls structural changes
* Plans new capital structure by end-Q1
* Sees FY group sales up 9 pct
* Expects FY pretax of 185 mln-190 mln stg
* Shares up 4.8 pct by 0925 GMT
(Adds company, analyst comment, shares, more details)
By Rhys Jones
LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Premier Foods (PFD.L), Britain's biggest food maker, on Tuesday said it was reviewing a range of options to ease its 1.8 billion pound debt burden and that it expects to have a new capital structure in place by April.
The maker of Hovis bread, Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy, refused to confirm press reports it was considering a rights issue or selling part of the group, but said constructive talks with its main stakeholders were ongoing.
"We're pleased with the way discussions are going ... and we're certainly on track to have a new structure in place by the end of the first quarter," Chief Executive Robert Schofield told reporters on a conference call.
The group also said it had arranged a 60 million pounds ($89.72 million) working capital facility to provide additional headroom for the first quarter of 2009.
By 0925 GMT, its shares, which plunged 90 percent on debt concerns last year, were up 4.8 percent at 37.75 pence.
"The price rise is being driven by the expectation that there will be a major injection of new equity soon, which should prove to be positive for the group's valuation," said Investec analyst Martin Deboo.
In a trading update for the year to end-December 2008, Premier said annual group sales were up 9 percent, reflecting higher prices to recover cost inflation and strong trading across a number of grocery categories, with volume growth in both its own brand and retailer-branded products.
Sales of Hovis bread rose 13 percent during the year thanks to a major advertising campaign and new packaging.
The group said it expected its full-year adjusted profit before tax to be between 185 million pounds and 190 million pounds, compared with 170 million pounds last year.
Analysts had expected the company to post pretax profit of 200 million pounds for calendar 2008, the average forecast on Reuters Estimates shows. Continued...
