Finsbury Food Group has insisted it remains on course to emerge stronger from the downturn after sales continued to fall over the past six months.

Profits at the cake maker stood at £1.8m for the 26 weeks to 2 January 2010 – the same as for the equivalent period last year.

But like-for-like sales were down by 5% and total revenues fell 7% to £82.9m – a fall Finsbury claimed was partly due to ditching low-margin business.

The company said the overall cake market had continued to decline over the period, although the company’s free-from business saw like-for-likes increase by 14%.

“Given our craft bakery and premium product bias, we have worked hard in the current climate to invest in organic growth opportunities while continuing to drive greater operating efficiencies,” said chief executive John Duffy.

He added: “The change in consumer behaviour may still be some time in coming but we believe the group has coped well in delivering a sustained level of profitability and will emerge stronger as the economy picks up.”

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New FD for cake maker Finsbury (20 January 2010)
Cake sales slide at Finsbury (25 November 2009)
Duffy named CEO of Finsbury Food Group (3 October 2009)