Ghostbusters and emojis give baker a £12m sales kick

FINSBURY Food has posted strong full-year figures thanks to Ghostbusters and Pokemon.

The bakery giant, which makes cakes branded with children’s characters, credited booming demand for sweet treats sporting popular movie and computer game heroes.

This year emojis, Pokemon and Ghostbusters trumped Disney’s Frozen as the clear winners.

Profit rose to £11.8m for the year to July 2 from £8.4m on sales of £319m.

The shares were flat at 135.5p after Finsbury, which makes cakes for all the major grocers, proposed a total dividend of 2.8p a share, up 12pc.

The business, which also makes artisan bread including Cranks and Vogel, said it had increased investment in its muffin, doughnut and hot cross bun business.

Chief executive John Duffy said: ‘We are a niche player in the packaged sliced bread market. Instead we are focused on the growing sectors of bread and morning goods such as artisan bread, hot cross bins and rolls through to doughnuts, muffins and morning pastries.’