Hull-based Cranswick reports strong final quarter finish

Hull’s Cranswick plc, an industry leading producer of foods and pet products, revealed it finished the year with a strong final quarter when releasing a statement on the update on trading for the year ending 31 March 2015.

Cranswick’s underlying volume finished 4% higher than the corresponding quarter a year ago, and it also saw a 1% increase in underlying sales after lower input prices were passed on to customers.

Total sales for the final quarter were 4% higher and 1% higher for the full financial year, and export sales to non-European markets continued to grow with full year volumes increasing strongly compared to the previous year.

These strong results were produced after the food supplier invested £25 million into its infrastructure to create further operational efficiencies and to maintain the ongoing supply of state of the art processing and production facilities.

Extending to the Milton Keynes cooked meats facility, completed earlier in the financial year, has added significant capacity and is delivering ongoing efficiency gains. Additionally, the substantial upgrade to the chilling system at the Norfolk primary processing facility has also delivered further efficiency benefits.

The acquisition of Benson Park, from October 2014, is progressing as anticipated and the ongoing growth of the business continues to be in line with the Board’s expectations. The major investment programme at the site remains on track and is expected to be commissioned in the autumn of 2015.

Despite the capital investment programme and the acquisition of Benson Park earlier in the year, strong cash generation from operating activities through the final quarter resulted in year-end net debt being considerably lower than at the end of the third quarter and similar to the level reported at the last financial year end.

Cranswick is currently is in a strong financial position, with committed, unsecured facilities of £120 million which provide comfortable headroom.

The company expects to announce its full year results on 18 May 2015.