Snack maker Kettle Foods has pushed sales above the £100m mark for the first time thanks to bolt-on acquisitions and increased own-label demand.
The company grew turnover by 31.4%, from £76.8m to £101m, in the year ended 31 March 2022. This came despite high levels of discounting and promotions to maintain volume and market share for the Kettle brand in an increasingly competitive market, according to Companies House accounts.
New own-label contracts helped the manufacturer mitigate tough competition as supermarkets offered shoppers an increased choice of hand-cooked alternatives, the directors’ report said.
The acquisition of tortilla chips maker It’s All Good, which produces the Manomasa brand, by Kettle owner Valeo Foods in December 2020 also helped to boost the top line.
Operating profits at Kettle increased 145% to £1.3m and pre-tax profits also more than doubled to £2.9m, as it made cost efficiencies despite significant inflation in commodity prices.
Accounts for other Valeo subsidiaries revealed sales at honey maker Rowse slipped 0.6% to £148.4m, with a sharper decrease in operating profits margins, reflecting significant rise in raw material costs, a return to pre-Covid consumer behaviour and a more challenging economic environment. Operating profits at the business fell 12.5% to £25.2m.
Valeo Confectionery, which produces Fox’s Glacier, Poppets and XXX mints, the Barratt brand of sweets such as Dip Dab and Refreshers, as well as own-label products, nudged turnover 3.8% higher to £155.9m. Operating profits ballooned 233% to £4.3m as it brought costs down.
Consolidated Valeo Foods group accounts filed in Ireland showed revenues, on a constant currency basis and excluding acquisitions, increased 3% to €1.2bn (£1.1bn) in the year to 31 March 2022.
UK sales were almost €100m higher (or 19.4%) at €587.8bn, while Irish figures fell €2m to €308.4m and European sales jumped €137m to €315.1m.
The group noted the difficulties in recovering the cost of increased energy, utilities and raw materials in wake of the Ukraine conflict.
Pre-tax losses came in at €2.1m after being hit with €17.6m of exceptional costs relating to acquisitions and other one-off charges and €57.8m of finance costs related to bank borrowings and refinancing.
It represented an improvement on the €102.7m loss in the previous year following exceptional costs of €113.1m
“Valeo will continue to pursue growth through a focus on organic sales growth and maintaining its existing sales base, maximising sales margin performance through effective pricing and promotion strategies, leveraging the group’s purchasing power and maintaining an efficient cost base,” the directors report said.
“Valeo will also continue its disciplined approach to value accretive M&A activity, which has been a significant driver of growth in recent years.”
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