10% fall in UK sales at McBride
MCBRIDE has reported a sharp fall in UK sales but says it is on track elsewhere in its business.
The group, which makes household and personal care products, has already said it is planning to shed 400 UK jobs save £12m over the next two years.
In the year to the end of June the group saw sales fall by 2.3% to £744.2m. Adjusted pre-tax profits were down from £17.9m to £14.8m.
In the UK revenues were down 10% to £259m and pre-tax profits fell to £4.2m from £14.5m. It said this reflected the “deep discounted branded promotional activity” by retailers.
McBride said overall sales fell mainly due to a decision to withdraw from low-margin contract manufacturing and private label business last year. Its “principal objective” for the forthcoming year is to improve profitability in the UK, and drive profitable growth in Central and Eastern Europe.
McBride has not said where UK job cuts would be made, but it has one of its largest production sites in Middleton, Manchester, as well as sites in Barrow, Bradford and Hull. In 2011 it announced a raft of redundancies and corporate changes which included the closure of a Burnley factory.
The group expects the cutbacks to cost £14m and as part of the review it is impairing its UK assets by £21m.
