TV CHEF MAGGIE BEER COOKS UP HALF-YEAR LOSS
TOUGH times in retail are taking a toll on Maggie Beer’s grocery business.
Maggie Beer Products — the company bearing the name of the chef and media personality — suffered a $251,000 net loss for the six months to December, accounts reveal.
It came as the company was forced to spend more on promotions to drive sales.
While the much-loved chef did pick up some deals to sell her ice cream on Qantas Airways and Etihad Airways flights, in the key channel of supermarkets it was a much harder sell.
The financial results for Maggie Beer Products were released as part of the latest filings for publicly listed company Longtable.
Longtable bought a 48 per cent stake in Maggie Beer’s food empire in 2016.
Maggie Beer Products, which produces goods including sauces, ice creams and quince pastes, has been struggling in recent years amid difficult trading conditions in the grocery sector and fierce competition among branded food producers.
That competition has prompted many producers to slash prices or invest more in promotions and discounting, crimping profitability.
Longtable — led by chief executive Laura McBain, the former head of infant formula group Bellamy’s Australia — issued its latest financial results to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday.
They reveal Maggie Beer Products lost $251,000 in the six months to December, with Longtable’s share of that loss sitting at $120,000.
That compared with a $455,000 net profit at Maggie Beer Products for the same period a year earlier.
Revenue rose slightly, from $10.86 million to $11.1 million. Longtable said it was a “challenging” period for Maggie Beer Products as it skidded to a loss.
The food group suffered from a slower-than-expected rollout of its goods by Metcash, the company that supplies supermarkets under the Independent Grocers of Australia banner.
It also suffered from a sales product mix that was skewed towards products with lower profit margins, increased promotional spending and $430,000 of new product development expenses, Longtable said.
The company said it had various initiatives to improve sales and profit , but warned these would only be “mildly incremental” this half with most benefits expected to flow from next year.