...and a single turkey

LOSERS

LOOKING back on 2020, all but a handful of Midas recommendations have prospered.

But our turkey of the year is Bakkavor, which supplies most major supermarkets with freshly prepared food, such as pizzas, salads, fancy breads and chilled – not frozen – ready meals.

Recommended in February at £ 1.35, the stock has tumbled more than 40 per cent to 80p, as the company battled with changing consumer habits here and lockdown rules in China, a key market. In the UK, households have cooked more, spent less on ready meals and turned to longer-life fare so that they can limit the number of shopping trips, all of which have hit Bakkavor sales.

In China, the group supplies cafes and other food outlets, many of which have been closed intermittently through the year.

On top of that, Bakkavor was previously considered a reasonable dividend stock.

However, chief executive Agust Gudmundsson ditched the final payout and suspended the interim payment when he unveiled Bakkavor’s sorry-looking halfyear results in September.

Ticker: BAKK Traded on: Main market Contact: bakkavor.com or 020 7908 6143