Ready meal retailer Cook has reported “encouraging” sales, despite battling soaring costs and “serious” gas leaks at its manufacturing sites which saw its carbon emissions to almost double.
In a year defined by “tricky” economic conditions and “changeable” consumer confidence, Cook’s EBITDA increased 25% to £8.5m, according to latest accounts to 31 March 2024. It was driven by 13% growth in net sales to £120m, with like-for-likes up 11.8%.
Cook was able to mitigate rising cost of sales – which grew to 49.2 %, from 47.7% – through a series of “prudent” price increases. It also added six new stores, and 149 new concessions, during the year. The opening of a new pastry & pies kitchen at its Sittingbourne HQ further helped increase capacity.
The investments added £7.2m to its costs. Overall operating profit for the year was down from £4.5m in 2023, to £3.8m.
“If Cook was a 27-year game of Monopoly, we would now be in a strong position,” CEO and co-founder Ed Perry said in the accounts. “Patience we have had aplenty and, year on year, we have invested steadily in our infrastructure, both physical and human.
“As we look ahead to the next five years, we believe we’re in the equivalent position of having three houses on each of the red, yellow and green property sets. A solid board position. And it should strengthen further.”
Cook had grown its total ‘live’ customers – those who have shopped with Cook in the past four months – to more than 350,000, through a combination of a co-ordinated email marketing campaign and programme of promotions. It also restructured and relaunched its food commercial team.
However, the retailer saw its total carbon emissions footprint nearly double, after “serious” gas leaks from “ageing” fridges in some of its manufacturing facilities. The issue was caused by “nigh-on impossible to detect” holes in pipework, and had led to Cook’s largest carbon footprint since 2018, of 4,028 gigatonnes of CO2e.
In response, the business switched to gas with a lower global warming potential and upgraded its maintenance protocols to manage the problem. It is now working to replace all of its refrigeration units by 2025, which will cost an estimated £2m.
“Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the numbers do not make easy reading,” said Perry in the accounts. “It’s what being transparent is all about.”
Returning to his Monopoly analogy, he said: “We have made a few trips around the board and have in our hand a selection of good and attractive properties. We now have the opportunity to invest wisely in the houses and hotels to create a robust platform for sustained success.”
Since the accounts were published, Cook has further expanded its shop estate, and added capacity to its online orders in a bid to grow its subscriptions business. It has also expanded into new categories, with the launch of a range of frozen pasta sauces in April, and in March began trialling ready meal vending machines in railway stations.
“It’s been a very solid year since April with consistent growth. New shop openings have gone really well and our concessions business is in great shape,” a Cook spokesman said. “Christmas so far has been all about ecommerce.
“We like a nautical analogy and, after sailing through a storm in recent years, we hoped we were emerging into calmer waters in 2025. Of course, the budget has since blown in and let’s see how choppy the waters get. As always, the team and culture we have at COOK makes me confident we’ll sail through,” the spokesman added.
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