Food group seeks fresh UK sources
CAKE to gluten-free bread-maker Finsbury Food Group said it is exploring sourcing in the UK to mitigate against any Brexit supply chain fallout.
It comes as the London Stock Exchange-listed firm posted revenues of £315m, a rise of 4%, for the financial year to the end of June, 2019
Its pre-tax profits rose to £13.6m, up from £4.5m last year.
However, the adjusted operating profit was £16.8m, down 5.7% on last year.
The group said this was a consequence of a challenging global environment.
The company – which has its headquarters in Cardiff, where it employs nearly 1,000 staff, and subsidiaries around the UK and Europe – declared a full-year dividend of 3.5p per share, up 6.1% on-year.
Finsbury Food saw revenues boosted by the acquisition of the Pontypoolbased gluten-free bakery Ultrapharm, as well as a number of product launches including a vegan brioche-style burger bun and a line of Mary Berry cakes.
John Duffy, chief executive of Finsbury Food Group Plc, said: “In what has been a continued challenging market environment, our sales growth and increased dividend demonstrates our ability to navigate more challenging times and our continued confidence in the prospects of the group.
“Our achievements have
been underpinned by our relentless focus on investment, efficiency and innovation, alongside our ability to harness the growth available from premium, healthy and authentic on-trend innovation.
“We are confident that the group is on a strong footing and able to drive further growth in the period ahead as we continue to build a strong, lean, scale competitor and consolidator.”
The group has a team that has prepared a number of strategies to minimise the impact of Brexit.
In its financial results the company said: “We some commodities from Europe. Any tariffs on trade will therefore have a bearing on the group.
“We have contingency planning in place, looking at alternative UK sources of products.
“Higher logistics and administration costs may result from border delays and could necessitate higher stock levels.
“We are developing labour strategies to retain and develop existing workers, attract and hire new workers and reduce labour, while boosting productivity with our capital investment program.
“We believe we have strategies that would minimise the impact and the directors are satisfied with the carrying value of the cash-generating units.”