FIF.L Regulatory News (FIF)

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DEEMED BY THE GROUP TO CONSTITUTE INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) NO. 596/2014. UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Finsbury Food Group Plc

AGM Statement

Finsbury Food Group Plc (AIM: FIF), a leading UK speciality bakery manufacturer of cake, bread and morning goods for both the retail and foodservice channels, is pleased to provide the following update ahead of its Annual General Meeting today at 9.30am:

As reported in the Group's full year results in September, the Group has proven itself to be resilient throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, responding quickly to deliver a robust trading performance in what has been a period of unprecedented demand swings.

We are pleased to report that sales in the first four months of the new financial year have recovered significantly, being only 3.4% down on the equivalent period last year. This continues the strong progressive improvement since the initial lockdown in March 2020, where post lockdown actual sales in the final quarter were 18.9% lower than the equivalent period the year before. This has been driven by a strong retail channel performance which was partially offset by weaker trading in UK foodservice, which whilst improving, continues to be impacted by Government restrictions. In view of the strength of our foodservice customer base, we are confident that, as long as the public sector (education) and take-away channels remain open, our current foodservice performance will remain robust.

Despite the challenges faced by the Group as a result of the pandemic, our drive for excellence has not diminished. The operational initiatives that have been introduced across the Group have gained significant traction and are yielding substantial improvements in quality, higher operational efficiency and lower waste. Given the strong trading and wider operational performance in the first four months of the new financial year, and assuming that an effective Brexit deal can be reached, the Board expects to deliver further sales and profit growth in the current financial year.

We are confident that this positions us well to deliver on our longer-term growth ambitions. We look forward to providing further updates in due course, as appropriate.

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Notes to editors:

· Finsbury Food Group Plc (AIM: FIF) is a leading UK manufacturer of cake and bread bakery goods, supplying a broad range of blue chip customers within both the grocery retail and 'out of home eating' foodservice sectors including major multiples and leading foodservice providers.

· The Company is one of the largest speciality bakery groups in the UK and, with its Overseas division, has sales in the financial year ending 27 June 2020 exceeding £306m.

· The Company's bakery product range is comprehensive and includes:

o Large premium and celebration cakes.

o Small snacking cake formats such as cake slices and bites.

o Artisan, healthy lifestyle and organic breads through to rolls, muffins (sweet and savoury) and morning pastries, all of which are available both fresh and frozen dependent on customer channel requirements.

o Gluten Free bread, morning goods and cake ranges.

· The Company is one of the largest ambient cake manufacturers in the UK, a market valued at over £969 million (source: IRI 52 w/e 12th September 2020). The retail bread and morning goods market has a value of £4.9 billion (source: Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 6th September 2020). The retail Free From cake market is valued at £52 million (source: Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 17th May 2020). The retail Free From bread & morning goods market is valued at £143 million (source: Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 6th September 2020). The UK Out of Home Foodservice Bakery sector is worth approximately £740bn per annum (source: UK foodservice data derived from MCA data for 52 weeks to 31st March 2020).

· The Company comprises a core UK Bakery division and an Overseas division:

o The UK Bakery division has manufacturing sites in Cardiff, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Salisbury, Sheffield, Manchester, and Pontypool.

· The Overseas division comprises the Company's 50% owned company, Lightbody Stretz Ltd, which supplies and distributes the Group's UK-manufactured products and third party products, primarily to Europe, and the Company's manufacturing facilities in Rybarzowice and Zywiec in Poland.