Northern Foods whisks up a strong performance
A “ROBUST” Christmas helped Yorkshire-based food manufacturer Northern Foods complete a solid third quarter.
The firm, which has its headquarters in Leeds, said today that group trading performance in the third quarter of 2008 reflected good progress in a challenging environment.
Underlying revenue for the 13 weeks ending December 27 increased by 3% on the same quarter last year with revenue for the year to date increasing by 3.5%.
Average prices were 3.8% higher and volumes 0.8% lower during the quarter with prices 4.9% higher and volumes 1.4% lower for the year to date.
Northern Foods said each of its divisions had performed strongly with chilled foods increasing revenue by 5.3% boosted by new value ranges including chilled pizza, value sandwiches and salads.
The Fox’s brand helped the firm’s bakery division enjoy healthy demand with revenue up 1.9%. Own label puddings including the ‘Scrummie’ range saw good performance as did sales of premium and seasonal biscuits.
Cash conscious consumers were attracted to San Marco pizza and McDougall’s frozen pies following a re-launch of both brands.
Stefan Barden, chief executive of Northern Foods, said: “Our key Christmas
trading period has been delivered effectively and we continue to respond to the
recessionary environment with new value ranges alongside our traditional premium products.
“Northern Foods is now a different company than two years ago. It is both financially and operationally stronger. While we share the market uncertainty over consumer spending going forward into 2009, this seems to be less pronounced in food than other sectors.
He added: “We remain confident of maintaining our steady progress and meeting current market expectations for the full financial year.”
Sector rival Premier Foods is also beating the economic downturn having recorded a 9% rise in sales for the year ended December 3.
The firm, which owns Stokesley-based meat alternative manufacturer Quorn, said today in a trading update profit before tax was anticipated to between £185m and £190m.
The successful relaunch of its Hovis brand, the completion of a manufacturing rationalisation programme, successful merger of RHM and Campbell’s into the group have helped produce a strong performance.
Robert Schofield, chief executive, said: “We are pleased by the progress we have made in 2008 against the backdrop of an increasingly tough environment for the UK consumer.
“Trading in the second half of the year has been good across a number of our grocery categories with volume growth of both branded and retailer branded products.”
He continued: “Our review of our capital structure is progressing well, discussions with stakeholders are constructive and we will provide a further update with our preliminary results.”
