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Finsbury Food profits stable but cake sales suffer
by Sarah Hills FoodBizDaily.com London - 24/03/2010
"Finsbury Food Group saw cake sales decline in the first half as consumers looking for value traded down and opted for promotional product offerings."
However the cake, bread and morning goods company, which claims to be the second largest participant in the UK cake industry, said it was working to offset the poor trading environment through organic growth elsewhere, improving efficiencies and managing volatile input costs.
Interim results for the 26 weeks to 2 January 2010 showed that group revenue was £82.9 million, a decrease of 7% on the corresponding period last year, while pre-tax profit was unchanged on 2009 at £1.8 million.
Like for like sales fell 5.2%, excluding the effect of the Goswell Enterprises acquisition and an additional week’s trading in the 2009 comparative period.
Sales for the Cake division were £65.3m, a fall of 8% on a like-for-like basis. However, some licensed brands bucked the trend with Thorntons branded cake sales growing by 9% year-on-year.
Meanwhile there was “strong growth” in the Bread and Free From division - boosted by the recent Goswell acquisition and by growing its Free From offering – with sales up 14% like-for-like.
The group said it continued to invest, opening a new warehouse, improving key sites and appointing new senior management to strengthen the company so it can capitalise on the expected rebound in premium market sales when it comes.
Group chief executive, John Duffy, said: “Given our craft bakery and premium product bias, we have worked hard in the current climate to invest in organic growth opportunities for the group whilst continuing to drive greater operating efficiencies.
“The change in consumer behaviour may still be some time in coming, but we believe the group has coped well in delivering a sustained level of profitability in difficult market conditions and will emerge stronger as the economy picks up.”
Although the impact of sterling, pressures on input prices and consumer behaviour remain difficult to predict, the group said it was confident of continued progress in the second half, which includes Easter and is expected to be stronger than the first.
More Details: http://foodbizdaily.com/articles/97065-finsbury-food-profits-stable-but-cake-sales-suffer-uk.aspx
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