Premier Foods returns to profit
Premier Foods returned to pre-tax profit in its financial year to March 28 and has been boosted by demand for its products including cooking sauces and bakery ingredients during the coronavirus lockdown.
The group, which has its Knighton Foods powdered products site at Knighton, near Stafford, on the Shropshire-Staffordshire border, went from a £42.7 million loss a year before to a £53.6m profit with revenue up 2.8 per cent to £847.1m. In the UK sales were up 4.3% and in the last quarter of the year rose 7.3 per cent.
There have been 11 consecutive quarters of UK revenue growth fuelled by the group's successful innovation strategy involving new products.
Its biggest brand Mr Kipling achieved record annual sales two years after a major relaunch.
Chief executive Alex Whitehouse said: "This has been a period of considerable progress for the company. We recently concluded our strategic review with a landmark pensions agreement which has the potential to significantly reduce future funding requirements for the group."
He said most major brands, including Angel Delight made at Knighton, grew revenues in the year and sales of Nissin branded products nearly doubled.
Premier's cost savings programme is now expected to deliver ahead of its original £5m target over the next two years.
"During the outbreak of Covid-19, food has been identified by the Government as a key industry and we feel privileged to play our part in keeping the nation fed. One of the most prevalent trends we have seen during the lockdown is that Britain has got cooking again, with particularly high levels of demand for items relating to meal preparation, including cooking sauces, gravy and baking ingredients.
"The health and wellbeing of all our colleagues has been our top priority and we have introduced a wide range of measures across our locations to safeguard our colleagues as we meet the unprecedented levels of demand we have seen for many of our product ranges. All our manufacturing and distribution sites have remained fully operational throughout this period and I am immensely proud of all our colleagues who have responded to this challenge with great energy and professionalism," said Mr Whitehouse
He added that revenues in the first quarter of 2020-2021 were expected to be approximately 20 per cent ahead of the same quarter last year reflecting continued strong demand for the group's product ranges, particularly in its grocery business.
