Greencore, the Dublin-headquartered convenience food group, says it expects to deliver operating profits of around £232 million this year despite reporting a £13.4 million group operating loss in the first half of its financial year, related to its £1.2 billion acquisition of British rival Bakkavor.In interim results, the London-listed group, which completed the takeover in January, says it incurred “one-off exceptional items” of £75.3 million over the period, largely related to the deal. This included “acquisition and integration costs” of £60.6 million, which comprised professional fees and transaction costs of £38.6 million.Still, Greencore said like-for-like revenues increased by 3.2 per cent from the same period last year to £1.3 billion in the first half of its current financial year. Group operating profits before exceptional items were £60.3 million, up from £43.7 million last year. Greencore chief executive Dalton Philips said following the Bakkavor deal, the new group is in “a great place”.Looking ahead, he said the group remains confident in the “short-term mitigations” it has put in place to deal with the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East.Philips said the group expects to deliver full-year adjusted operating profits in line with market expectations of between £227 million and £241 million. More to follow ...