Ramsden International has fallen to its first-ever loss as new Brexit rules hit revenues at the wholesale exporter.
The Grimsby-based group experienced “an extremely difficult” year in 2021 as Covid restrictions around the world continued to cause disruption and new custom controls came into force when the Brexit transition period ended on 1 January.
Ramsden was unable to ship any products to Europe, which accounts for half its business, until after the EU ratified the Brexit deal in late April.
Revenues slumped 20.7% to £37.2m as a result, with a shortage of HGV drivers and congestion at the ports also leading to availability and delivery issues as well as higher costs, according to newly filed accounts.
The decline saw Ramsden sink from profits of £1.3m to pre-tax losses of £1m in 2021.
Tracing its roots back to 1946, the third-generation family business sells more than 24,000 products, including thousands of household British brands from Yorkshire Tea to McVitie’s biscuits and Warburtons crumpets, in 133 countries around the world.
MD Sean Ramsden, awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to international trade, told The Grocer a quarter of the group’s annual turnover was lost in the “the legislative vacuum” of the start of Brexit and the formal ratification.
The group worked at “breakneck speed” to create a new business model based in Belgium, which is now home to Ramsden Europe BV, a subsidiary company importing from its parent and working through a supply chain partnership with logistics firm DFDS before selling into the European market.
“We’re now the only company able to offer a full hassle-free delivery service of UK wholesale groceries into Europe,” Ramsden said.
“It’s brought back most of the lost turnover, but it required a tremendous amount of resources to get there and led to the first loss in history of the company.”
Ramsden has returned to profitability in 2022 and is forecasting double-digit percentage growth for the year.
Ramsden added that leaving the EU had harmed the business in the short-term, but he viewed Brexit as being about “short-term pain and long-term opportunity”.
“Part of the problem is that is has not been a good Brexit,” he said. “No checks are being applied on products coming in the UK from the EU, and the EU authorities have largely done everything they can to keep British products out of the zone.
“The Northern Irish problem needs to be resolved as we can’t remain in this limbo situation. There really has to be a will to make trade as free and easy between the UK and the EU as possible, which really means veterinary equivalence as far as food and drink is concerned. I hope that politics doesn’t get in the way of that because everybody will win if the issue is resolved.”
Ramsden remains optimistic in the medium term about the opportunities for UK plc to do business with the EU.
He added that the company is also seeing growing demand from Africa, Asia and Middle East.
“Brexit should be an opportunity for British manufacturers and exporters to set their horizons further than they traditionally did, but I do understand it takes time.”
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