Core UK bakery business underpins sales at Finsbury Food
Finsbury Food posted a jump in full-year sales on Monday thanks to strength in its UK bakery division.
Finsbury Food Group
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In an update on trading for the year ended 29 June, the company said group sales rose 3.8% to £315.3m, with sales in the second half up 11.7%. On a like-for-like basis, sales were 3.1% higher at £299.3m, with H2 sales up 5.7% from the same period a year ago.
Finsbury said the stronger performance in the second half was driven by organic growth, price recovery and previously-communicated new business wins.
The company’s core UK bakery business saw LFL sales grow 4.7%, which it said was ahead of the wider market and achieved "despite the ongoing malaise in consumer confidence and the broader macro environment". This helped to offset weakness in the overseas division, where LFL sales fell by 9.8% but grew by 13.2% when including the acquired Ultrapharm business.
Chief executive John Duffy said: "We have navigated through an intense period of cost inflation and broader macro issues, and as such, we are very pleased to be reporting a strong return to growth in the second half, delivering a performance that is in line with market expectations.
"We look forward to reaping the benefits of the investment in Ultrapharm, an acquisition that has further diversified the group into higher growth markets. As a focused and diversified group, we remain optimistic about the growth prospects ahead."
Finsbury said it was confident of delivering profits in line with market expectations for the full financial year ended 29 June 2019.
At 0945 BST, the shares were up 3.6% at 66.80p.