Premier Foods sees profits rise by 13 per cent

Group revenue increased by 11.8 per cent in the year, to £1.01 billion, with branded revenue up 9.1 per cent and non-branded revenue 28.3 per cent higher in results for the 52 weeks ended April 1.

The company, which announced plans to close its Knighton factory earlier this year, reported a 13 per cent jump in adjusted profit to £137.2m. It has raised its dividend for the year to 1.44p.

The group said the Batchelors brand, including its instant Super Noodles, has become its biggest brand in the grocery division after sales jumped by more than a fifth.

Households have been hit by food inflation of more than 19% because the grocery sector has faced supply chain disruption and higher commodity prices – and the impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine on many staples.

Alex Whitehouse, Chief Executive Officer, said: "Once again, the business has delivered a year of strong performance in a challenging environment with Group Revenue increasing by 11.8 per cent.

"Trading profit increased by 11.5 per cent, maintaining margins versus a year ago, as we successfully offset exceptionally high input cost inflation through a combination of cost efficiencies and pricing.

"Additionally, we continued to make very good progress against all our strategic objectives; our brands in the UK grew by 7.5 per cent, with the Grocery brands further increasing market share.

"Revenues from new categories this year increased by 33 per cent and we achieved a record market share for Mr Kipling in Australia.

"We made our first acquisition in 15 years, The Spice Tailor brand, which is already delivering accelerated sales growth as we apply our proven branded growth model.

""We know that consumer budgets remain under pressure in the current environment and our broad portfolio of brands continue to provide great options to prepare and eat good value, delicious meals at home.

"We are continuing to see consumers looking for convenient, affordable and tasty meal solutions and Batchelors and Nissin were two of our best branded performers in the year which benefitted from this trend. Batchelors, well known for its tasty Super Noodles, has now become our largest Grocery brand, increasing revenues by over 20% this year."

"We will continue to pursue vigorously our growth strategy and with our positive momentum, including a good start to quarter one, we are well placed to make further progress this year, and our expectations remain unchanged."

In January, the group revealed its plans to close its Knighton manufacturing site on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border, which it said was “marginally” loss-making.

It said it would launch a consultation with the 300 workers at the factory under a process to run until the middle of 2023.

It said the site, which largely makes unbranded powdered drinks for the group, would likely to continue operating into 2024 before finally shutting after a phased closure.