Braced for the worst after the sudden departure of CEO Michael Clarke last month, Premier Foods shareholders were treated to “reassuring” full-year results this week.

The heavily-indebted supplier reported a 10.6% increase in like-for-like trading profits to £123.4m for the year to 31 December 2012, sending its shares up 3% to 93p in early trading on Thursday. Like-for-like sales, excluding its milling business, were up 3.2% for the year.

Analysts said the performance was positive, especially given the recent management changes, which resulted in a 25% slump in Premier’s shares in mid-January. “This looks like a decent, reassuring statement in light of the shenanigans that preceded it,” said Investec analyst Martin Deboo.

Panmure analyst Graham Jones was more critical, highlighting weak bread profits. The contribution of its bread business almost halved to £26.9m, which Premier blamed on contract gains and losses. It said “some contract gains require higher costs to serve”. Jones added he struggled to see how Premier could significantly improve its balance sheet given its “huge pension deficit”.

Fellow manufacturer Greencore has also had a difficult start to 2013. Shares in the own-label supplier slipped after it reported sluggish sales in the run-up to Christmas and then fell sharply last week when it became embroiled in the horsemeat scandal. The discovery of horse DNA in an Asda beef Bolognese sauce made by Greencore resulted in a 17% overnight slump in its share price to 87p on 15 February. Its shares have since recovered to 102p helped by reassurances from Asda that it remained supportive of Greencore.

The horsemeat scandal has had no recognisable impact on the shares of the three listed supermarkets. Over the past month shares in Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have risen 2.7%, 6.8% and 2.1% respectively, though the FTSE rose 6.2% over the same period. One analyst said the relative underperformance of the supermarkets reflected greater appetite among investors for riskier shares, and movement out of defensive stocks.

Meanwhile, Danone reporting its fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, posted the first increase in fresh dairy volumes for seven quarters and beat analyst expectations with a 4.9% increase in like-for-like sales. Shares rose 5% to €52.50.

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