19 Jan 2015 07:00
Date: | 19 January 2015 |
On behalf of: | Finsbury Food Group plc ('Finsbury', 'the Company' or 'the Group') |
Embargoed until: 0700hrs | |
Finsbury Food Group plc
Pre-Close Trading 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 today providing an update on trading for the first half of the current financial year, ended 27th December 2014, prior to entering its close period.
The Board is pleased to report that since the positive AGM trading update in November 2014, strong trading performance throughout the Christmas period has continued. Total Company sales revenues grew to £107.6m, an increase of 24% on prior year. This represents organic growth of just over £4.9m, an increase of 5.6% versus prior year.
The Fletchers acquisition completed at the end of October contributed £16m of additional sales revenue. Consequently the UK Bakery division grew by 27.7% inclusive of Fletchers, with an especially strong seasonal performance from Cake. The Overseas division, the Company's 50% owned joint export business, also finished the first half strongly, resulting in flat sales versus the prior year and reversing the 3.1% decline reported for the first 4 months.
The strong sales growth and continued momentum was helped by new products such as Disney Frozen cakes, popular Christmas seasonal ranges and increased promotional activity. As previously stated, consumer markets remain challenging and the Board anticipates that the Fletchers acquisition will drive the Group's second half growth.
Improvements in operating efficiencies resulting from the ongoing capital investment programme, and overhead reductions completed during the second half of last year complemented the stronger first half organic growth. These combined volume and efficiency benefits helped offset labour and general cost inflation pressures, which have moderated compared to recent years, delivering improved operating margins.
The Fetchers business is now being integrated into the broader Finsbury Group and the Board remains confident that the planned scale and efficiency benefits will be delivered as expected.
The Board believes the larger, more diversified speciality bakery group is a strong multi-channel business, well equipped to deliver growth and improved shareholder value over the coming years.
John Duffy, Chief Executive of Finsbury Food Group plc, commented:
"The Fletchers acquisition, while still in early stages of Group integration, has shown very positive signs of growth and progress. In addition, our capital investment programme continues and has laid the foundation for the Group's positioning in a market experiencing industry-wide pressures. These factors, along with the benefits of being a larger, more diversified specialty bakery group underpin our belief that the Group is in a strong position for the year ahead."
For further information: | |
Finsbury Food Group plc | www.finsburyfoods.co.uk |
John Duffy (Chief Executive) | 029 20 357 500 |
Stephen Boyd (Finance Director) | |
Cenkos Securities plc | |
Bobbie Hilliam (Corporate Finance) | |
Oliver Baxendale (Sales) | |
Redleaf | finsbury@redleafpr.com |
Rebecca Sanders-Hewett | 020 7382 4730 |
Jenny Bahr |
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.
▪ Following the acquisition of the Fletchers Group of bakeries, the Company is one of the largest speciality bakery groups in the UK with initial annualised sale of over £270m.
▪ The Company's bakery product range is comprehensive and includes:
- Large premium and celebration cakes;
- Small snacking cake formats such as cake slices and bites.
- 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.
▪ The Company is now the second largest manufacturer of ambient packaged cake (excluding In Store Bakery) in the UK, a market valued at £926m (Source Symphony IRI 52 w/e 6th December 2014). The annual bread and morning goods market has a value in excess of £3.5 billion (source Kantar Worldpanel). The UK foodservice bakery sector is worth approximately £900 million per annum, 70 per cent of which is in morning goods.
▪ The Company comprises a UK Bakery division and an Overseas division:
- UK Bakery has manufacturing sites in Cardiff, Hamilton, Salisbury, Sheffield, London and Manchester.
- The overseas sector comprise the Company's 50% owned Company Lightbody Stretz Ltd supplies and distributes the Group's UK manufactured products and third party products primarily to Europe.