FDBusiness.com

Finsbury Food Group, a leading UK manufacturer of cake, bread and morning goods, has increased revenue by 16% to £102 million for the six months ended 31st December 2011 to pass the £100 million interim sales milestone for the first time. Profit before tax grew by £0.3 million to £2.2 million.

The group achieved growth across each of its businesses. Sales in the Bread & Free From division of £25.6 million represent an increase of 8% on the comparable period last year. This was again driven by strong growth in the fresh gluten free market and the speciality bread market from the Genius/retailer brands and the Vogel’s brands respectively.

John Duffy, chief executive of Finsbury Food Group.

Sales in the larger Cake division were up 19% to £76.4 million. The UK market and export sales have both shown growth although the former has continued to require increased promotional support to remain competitive and deliver growth in the current marketplace.

John Duffy, chief executive of Finsbury Food Group, comments: “We are pleased to be reporting further growth across each of the Finsbury businesses. This is particularly noteworthy considering the pressure we are seeing from high commodity and input price inflation. With this in mind, we are focused on driving both efficiency and productivity to mitigate against the negative margin impact of these pressures, and believe that the measures we are taking will continue to bear fruit.”

He adds: “Our priority is to further invest in the business to ensure that the growth momentum continues and look forward to both driving further shareholder value and reaching our next sales milestone.”