Cake manufacturer maintains growth despite tough market

A Blackburn-headquartered cake manufacturer with sites in Yorkshire has recorded total sales of £155.8m in its newly released annual financial results.

BBF Holdings, a maker of own label, licensed and branded ambient cakes, has reported a positive set of results for the year ended 30 June 2019.

The Group achieved underlying organic growth of 8% over the year despite the challenging market backdrop. Net cash generated from operating activities was £11.7m, with a 30% reduction in net debt, by £7.4m to £17.2m.

BBF supplies major supermarkets across the UK, and has bakeries in Hull, Bradford, Blackburn and Poland.

Last year, the company secured more than 900 jobs by completing the acquisition of of Greencore’s cake and chilled desserts division headquartered from a bakery in Hull.

Its annual update also features record Christmas volume and revenue, up 24% year on year, the successful completion of a £40m Group refinancing and a 30% reduction in accidents across all bakeries.

The report also notes: “The retail bakery market is highly competitive with inflationary pressures and weak sterling as key concerns.

“Whilst raw material inflation has moderated slightly over the period however, sterling’s weakness has driven net costs higher. Despite these headwinds, the business continues to grow profitably at EBITDA and operating profit level.”

Jonathan Lill, CEO of BBF, said: “This has been a highly successful and transformational year for the Group and the positive figures are testament to the strong teamwork we have achieved right across the business.

“We have delivered substantial operational turnaround improvements in our recent bakery acquisition in Hull and have successfully integrated the management of the site with the existing BBF business.

“The combined Group is now the largest manufacturer of own label ambient packaged cake in the UK.

“BBF continues to build on its solid platform for revenue growth with customers, both in the UK and internationally. We retain a broad customer base and continue to make great service, product innovation and quality our top priorities in order to drive growth across a range of products.”

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