The recent financial challenges faced by the UK fruit & veg sector drove further losses for Florette owner Agrial Fresh Produce last year.
The branded bagged salad supplier and grower cited the impact of soaring production and labour costs and lower demand for its products “due to increasing price pressures” in its accounts for the year to 31 December 2023, posted at Companies House.
Sales fell by 7.1% to £107.6m as Agrial posted operating losses of £5.6m, though this figure was an improvement on the £7.7m it lost in the previous accounting period due to “significant fixed costs savings”.
It pointed to a loss of business in retail after it moved to recover price hikes from customers as a key driver of its performance.
“In 2023, the business continued to suffer the same inflationary pressures as the rest of the economy, making the continued management of costs and recovery of increases a key part of our ongoing business activities,” said Agrial’s annual report and accounts.
“The demand across the retail salad category reduced due to increasing price pressures,” it added. “Our decision to recover inflation is not without risks but it is essential to the sustainability of our business and our category.”
Agrial made “some difficult decisions to walk away from some business”, leading to the loss of some listings in retail.
However, the supplier recovered some of those volumes from new business in the foodservice sector, it said.
While inflation eased towards the end of the financial period, Agrial warned “we are still a long way from a flat or deflationary position”.
And it stressed 2023 had seen “ongoing improvements to our performance, structure and customer portfolio and we continue to see progress in our performance”.
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