FDBusiness.com

With all divisions recording sales growth, Real Good Food Company has reported a 62% increase in EBITDA to £9.1 million on turnover up 24.4% to £249.0 million in 12 months to December 2011. The performance was driven by a focus on brand development and by driving sales growth.

A significant proportion of the EBITDA growth came from sugar distributor Napier Brown as it responded successfully to the market changes following EU sugar regime reform but the overall profit performance was supported also by strong results from Renshaw and Garrett Ingredients. Renshaw supplies a range of food ingredients primarily to the bakery sector, while Garrett is a major player in the UK ingredients and bakery market supplying a full range of dairy and bakery ingredients, ice-cream mixes, sugar and milk. The fourth division, Haydens Bakery, produces chilled and ambient premium patisserie and desserts and has just commenced a three years bakery modernisation programme.

Pieter Totte, executive chairman of Real Good Food Company, comments: “In 2011 we delivered on our commitment to return to growth in sales and profitability. We are now embarking on an exciting period designed to transform the scale of the group over the next three years. This strategy is rooted in robust plans produced by each individual business and we have restructured the group to support these.” Real Good Food Company is aiming to double sales over the next three years.

In April 2011 the board announced it was moving its year end from 31 December to 31 March to better align its financial reporting with its trading seasonality. The October to December period is especially busy generating most of the year’s operating profits (about 58% of EBITDA was generated in the 2011 calendar year). The January-March period is the group’s ‘quietest’ trading period with EBITDA typically around the break even level driven by the combination of the lowest sales levels in the year in this quarter with a relatively flat overhead base through the year.

This is evident in the trading comparatives with sales of £305.5 million for the 15 months to 31 March 2012, £56.5 million higher than the 12 months ended 31 December 2011 (£249.0 million) but profitability flat with EBITDA at £9.2 million and £9.1 million respectively.