London / UK. (ffg) British Finsbury Food Group PLC, a leading UK speciality bakery manufacturer of cake, bread and morning goods for both the retail and foodservice channels, is provided an update on trading for the first four months of the new financial year.
The Board is pleased to report that, following the positive performance reported at the Group’s preliminary results, strong trading has continued into the new financial year. Total Group sales revenues grew to 102 million GBP during the first four months, an increase of 78.1 percent on prior year, which includes organic growth of 5.8 million GBP, an increase of 10.1 percent over prior year. The UK Bakery division grew by 8.7 percent and the Overseas division, the Group’s 50 percent owned European business, grew by 19.4 percent.
In October 2015 the Group celebrated the first anniversary of the Fletchers acquisition, which is now fully integrated and performing strongly. Johnstone’s was acquired in June, just before the start of the current financial year, and is also integrating well.
The Group continues investing in the business which includes an increased focus on capital expenditure enabling the Directors’ to maximise sales, efficiency and productivity opportunities across all businesses.
Whilst consumer confidence has improved, the economic and trading outlook remains uncertain and we anticipate that the Fletchers and Johnstone’s acquisitions will drive the majority of the Group’s growth in this financial year. The Board believes our larger, more diversified speciality bakery group is a strong multi-channel business, well equipped to deliver growth and improved shareholder value over the coming years.
