Sugar Puffs are being reformulated with less sugar and a new name as owner Halo Foods looks to revive plunging sales and mitigate consumer concerns over sugar.

Rolling out later this month, Honey Monster Puffs will feature a revised recipe with less sugar and 20% more honey, and also features traffic light nutritional labelling on front of pack. Halo said it was taking a “responsible and transparent” approach to nutrition and wanted to help consumers make informed decisions.

Honey Monster Puffs contain 8.6g of sugar in a 30g portion - down from the 9.3g of the previous recipe - which is less than Krave (9g), Coco Pops (11g) and Frosties (11g). Halo said the sugar content of the brand had been reduced by almost 40% in the past decade.

The Sugar Puffs brand has received little investment in recent years, and sales have crashed 16.6% by value to £14.4m on volume sales down 21.6% [Nielsen 52 w/e 20 September 2014].

“We feel the product ­relaunch, coupled with our move to bring the product name in line with the Honey Monster character, can help grow our share of the cereals category,” said Halo Foods marketing director Andy Valentine.

Halo is targeting £30m sales by 2017 and penetration up from its ­current 13.8% to about 18%, he added.

Halo is hoping to tap nostalgia for the Honey Monster character, who first appeared in 1976, and will be supporting the launch with a £3m marketing push that breaks in Q1 next year.

A key element of the marketing will be encouraging children to get outside and be active.

Halo Foods owner Raisio Group blamed the UK cereals business for a €2.5m drop in group operating profit (EBIT) for the second quarter to 20 June. CEO Matti Rihko admitted at the time that he expected recovery of cereal sales to be slow.

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