Finsbury Food Group Shows Resilience
Finsbury Food Group, a leading UK manufacturer of cake and speciality bread, has increased revenue by 1% to £103.3 million and profit before tax by 32.8% to £3.0 million for the six months ended 31 December 2012. Sales in the UK Cake division rose by 2% to £67.8 million and sales in the Bread division were up 7% to £27.4 million.
Finsbury has maintained its position as the second largest manufacturer of ambient cake in the UK. It also raised £3.8 million after expenses from a placing to fund capital investment projects in its UK Cake business.
Finsbury also succeeded in reducing net debt by 27% to £27.4 million during the first half. Since the end of the first half, Finsbury has sold its Free From business for £21 million to further reduce debt.
“The group has proved its resilience and continued to drive growth, productivity and efficiencies in what remains a difficult trading environment,” says John Duffy, chief executive of Finsbury Food Group. “The outlook for Finsbury is now stronger than ever. The sale of the Free From business has transformed the group’s balance sheet, giving us the opportunity to catalyse our stated strategy and accelerate further growth through investment and market consolidation whilst reinstating the dividend.”
