Poor potato crop impacts profitability at Seabrooks
Profitability at Bradford-headquartered Seabrook Crisps was hit this year by the poor potato crop, but investment in the firm saw its annual revenues hit £30m.
The iconic Yorkshire crisp brand, which was acquired by global snack firm Calbee in October, has published its annual report for the year ending April 1 2018. Its revenue rose to £30m from £24.5m in the previous year but pre-tax profits remained stable, reporting a £4.6m, up slightly from £4.4m in 2017.
The business employs 160 people at its headquarters.
Daniel Woodwards, director at Seabrook, reflected on issues with the quality of the potato crop throughout the majority of 2018, adding that poorer than average yields had “materially impacted our profitability in the year.”
He added: “Had yields been aligned to historic averages we would have improved on our 2017 performance however, given the unexpected and relatively short timeframe over which these issues occurred, we met these costs in full.”
Woodwards added: “In what appears to be an environment of constant change and increasing challenges, 2018 was no exception. The business continued to evolve at pace to meet these new challenges, with the year representing another significant development milestone.
“As part of that development we continued our investment programme into our operational capability and infrastructure, obtaining accreditation to supply private label to the majority of the main retailers in the UK and subsequently securing supply contracts; a first for the business.
“It is these private label contracts combined with significant branded growth that has driven the increase in revenue in the year.”
He said the fully annualised revenue generation would only be fully realised until 2019.
Mid-market private equity investor LDC completed the sale of Seabrook in October for an undisclosed sum. LDC backed the management buyout of the business in July 2015 to support its growth, which was reported to be a deal worth £35m.
