Strong sales of Bear Yoyos drove 17% pro-rata sales growth at Urban Fresh Foods in its first full year since being bought by Lotus Bakeries.
The kids fruit snack manufacturer reported sales of £33.4m for the year to 31 December 2017 compared with £28.5m a year earlier.
Urban Fresh Foods, which makes snacks under the BEAR and Urban Fruit brands, was purchased by Lotus for £70m in January 2016. as part of its acquisition drive in the snacking category.
Profitability declined slightly at the group, with pre-tax profits declining from £3.5m in 2016 to £3.1m in 2017 following a £2m rise in sales costs.
Newly released Companies House accounts highlighted that “persistent strong demand” for BEAR Yoyos and NPD helped to drive growth.
Despite growth in the baby snacking sector, Urban’s AlphaBites children’s cereal brand saw sales slump 13% year-on-year in value after distribution cuts.
“From our perspective things are still moving forward and our share has improved to 41% in 2018”, commented Paul Hunter, MD of Urban Fresh Foods and BEAR.
“Over the long term the UK core is really important to us, but we are also looking to extend the BEAR brand beyond where we are now.”
In the strategic report accompanying the accounts, it said: “Growth in visibility on shelf has supported this performance, with stocking points at the end of 2017 up 31% on the previous 12 months.”
“BEAR have also benefitted from incremental sales coming from the Sours NPD throughout 2017.
“Similarly, Urban Fruit has benefitted from gaining new listings with its coconut Straight Up and Sriracha NPD and has grown to hold a 4.1% share of adult fruit snacking as of the end of 2017.”
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