Followers of Premier Foods had been braced for a full-blown profit warning.
So shares in the food producer might have been expected to rally today on the company’s reassurance that its 2007 figures should meet expectations.
Instead, they fell nearly 4 per cent.
The disclosure that first-half like-for-like sales were “slightly behind” 2006 did little to inspire.
However, Premier gave good reasons for the declines: notably, its withdrawal from a clutch of low-margin own-label contracts and tough comparatives against the successful launch last year of Branston beans.
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Rising interest rates have also taken their toll on borrowing costs, although the company has capped the sum paid on its £1.8 billion debt.
The biggest concern surrounds the impact of higher wheat costs on RHM’s bread business, which recent poor weather has done nothing to assuage.
The division has already felt the impact through lower trading profits, although it is seeking to recover higher costs through raising its bread prices in the next few weeks.
Until the success of that initiative becomes clear, the shares’s 4.7 per cent dividend yield is likely to provide a floor.