Gourmet food producer Maggie Beer Holdings says sales in the December quarter were “strong” as people bought up for Christmas, and that its first-half profit margins were slightly ahead of the previous year.

But many investors are wary of the company, which makes a range of soups, ice-cream, cheese, quince paste, cooking stock, pate and broths, with the share price languishing at 21¢, about one third of the level of this time last year when it was sitting at 61¢.