Sales sour in year of change for sweet maker
TANGERINE Confectionery, the country’s largest independent manufacturer of sweets and popcorn, has reported a slump in sales amid a “extremely competitive market”.
The Blackpool company, majority owned since 2011 by US buyout giant Blackstone, also reported a halving of bottom-line profits from £4.9m to £2m in 2014, but said efficiency savings had boosted EBITDA by 3% from £14.7m to £15.2m.
Tangerine, which closed one of its two factories in Blackpool in March this year with the loss of more than 160 jobs, said trading in 2014 had been in a “tough climate”.
An £11.3m fall in sales to £158.4m reflected a “number of underlying and fundamental changes to the business”, chief executive Beniot Testard said in his review of the year included in newly-filed accounts at Companies House.
He said gross margins, before exceptional items had been increased 1% to 23% as a result of an improved product mix and efficiences alongside significant investment in marketing and new product development in the Butterkist popcorn and sugar confectionery categories.
During the year a record £8.9m was invested in the business, the company said, which “represented a commitment to the future growth of the business.”
Although the closure of site in Clifton Road, Blackpool, was not completed until March this year, Tangerine’s accounts include a number of one-off costs related to the closure, amounting to £2.9m.
As a result of the cuts, Tangerine’s workforce was reduced from 1,554 to 1,460, while payroll costs fell from £38.3m to £35.8m.
Tangerine’s remaining factories are Vicarage Lane, Blackpool, Beech Street Liverpool, and in Pontefract, York and Cleckheaton in Yorkshire.
Its products include Candy Land Refreshers, Fruit Salads, Sherbet Fountains and liquorice allsorts, while brands include Taverners Proper Sweets.
