Uniq has powered back into the black in the first half, boosted by a strong performance from desserts and sandwiches and an exceptional gain from the sale of its St Ivel yogurts business.
Chief executive Bill Ronald said: "We've flown out of trouble. Now we want to raise the altitude, keep developing innovative new products and improving margins."
Sandwiches and desserts represent a major opportunity for the group, he added. "We have an ambition to be a clear number one in the sandwich market. We're right up there with Hazlewood, but we want to put some clear space between us. Premium sandwiches and desserts are an especially exciting opportunity.
"We were late entrants in ready meals, but there is a lot of room to grow there."
There was also improvement in dressings and sauces as problems over service levels were resolved, said Ronald.
The German market, which represented about 20% of group sales, although far less of profit, remained challenging. However "there are still a number of opportunities to become more efficient, to improve margins. We have appointed a new MD in our Northern Europe division, we're working on manufacturing efficiencies and we've rationalised some of the sandwich business."
Pre-tax profit after exceptionals was £13.3m for the half year to September 28, compared with a loss of £28.2m. Sales on continuing businesses were up 3% to £446.2m.
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Chief executive Bill Ronald said: "We've flown out of trouble. Now we want to raise the altitude, keep developing innovative new products and improving margins."
Sandwiches and desserts represent a major opportunity for the group, he added. "We have an ambition to be a clear number one in the sandwich market. We're right up there with Hazlewood, but we want to put some clear space between us. Premium sandwiches and desserts are an especially exciting opportunity.
"We were late entrants in ready meals, but there is a lot of room to grow there."
There was also improvement in dressings and sauces as problems over service levels were resolved, said Ronald.
The German market, which represented about 20% of group sales, although far less of profit, remained challenging. However "there are still a number of opportunities to become more efficient, to improve margins. We have appointed a new MD in our Northern Europe division, we're working on manufacturing efficiencies and we've rationalised some of the sandwich business."
Pre-tax profit after exceptionals was £13.3m for the half year to September 28, compared with a loss of £28.2m. Sales on continuing businesses were up 3% to £446.2m.
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