Profits almost double as East End Foods keeps growing
Profits have almost doubled at West Bromwich-based ethnic food giant East End Foods as sales continue to grow.
Founded by the Wouhra family more than 40 years ago, its sauces, pules, rice and oils are now sold all over the UK, and in Europe, filling shelves at Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Aldi and the Co-operative as well as 80 per cent of indepent Asian-owned grocery stores.
Latest accounts filed at Companies House show turnover in the financial year to the end of April hit £185.4 million, up four per cent on 2016's figure.
At the same time pre-tax profits have soared, to £8.5m, up from £4.9m the year before. As a result the company paid its shareholders a dividend of £5m.
Starting out from a small shop in Wolverhampton, East End is now the UK’s largest importer of ethnic foods with over 1,200 product lines.
As well as its West Bromwich headquarters in Kenrick Way, the family-owned company has a depot in Smethwick and also occupies the former HP Sauce site in Aston, Birmingham, employing more than 350 people in total.
Commenting on the results, the family directors said the company had continued to grow and they expected this to continue. They said it was still unclear what impact Brexit would have on the business, which sells into Europe, and they would continue to monitor the situation.
They also said the company had continued to invest in key areas such as quality control, environment issues, IT and credit management.
"The directors aim to maintain management policies which have resulted in the company's substantial growth in recent years," said the report, adding that greater efficiency and new product development would aid East End Food's growth.
