Premier Foods' Mr Kipling brand saw sales grow 12% last year, helping to raise the overall group's revenue and trading profit.
Group revenue was up 0.6% for the full year, to £824.3 million (€948.6 million), while trading profit rose by 4.5% to £128.5 million (€147.7 million), according to the group's preliminary results for the full year to 30 March.
As well as Mr Kipling, which benefited from a brand relaunch in the UK, Premier Foods said that its Ambrosia, Batchelors, Sharwood's and Soba brands all posted 'strong performances'.
The group's international business was down by 12.5%, however, impacted by Cadbury cake overstocks and lower export distributor volumes, it said.
It also said that it plans to launch a new plant-based brand, Plantastic, 'in response to current consumer trends'.
'Consistent Progress'
"Premier Foods has delivered consistent progress over the last two years, growing revenue, trading profit, adjusted earnings and reducing net debt," commented Alastair Murray, acting chief executive. "In the last year, Mr Kipling, our largest brand, grew +12% following its successful brand relaunch in the UK and in addition Ambrosia, Batchelors, Sharwood's and Soba also displayed healthy growth.
"While we saw a decline in international revenue and experienced significant operational challenges with the final phase of our logistics transformation programme, our improved structural resilience still resulted in us growing trading profit by 4.5%," Murray added.
Outlook
This year, Premier Foods plans to invest in both capital expenditure projects and consumer marketing, it said, focusing primarily on its five biggest brands.
"While the first half of FY19/20 is expected to be slower than last year, reflecting the timing of marketing investment, we expect to make further progress over the next twelve months thanks to our continuing pipeline of new product innovation and strong customer relationships," Murray added.
The company noted that a strategic review of the business is 'ongoing', with an update to follow in due course.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine