24 September 2008

2 minute read

Europe

Peter Humphreys, chief executive, commented: “After a year of consolidation in 2006/07 while we integrated the cheese and ingredients businesses we purchased in late 2006, we have delivered very good financial results in 2007/08.

“Group Turnover is up £118m (24%) to £602m, compared with the previous year. We achieved an operating profit of £9.66m, an improvement of £9.13m on the prior year. Our profit before tax of £3.5m shows significant improvement from the prior year’s loss of £2.01m, showing a £5.5m turnaround. Our strong balance sheet underpins our future plans and gives us resilience against a challenging economic environment."

Mr Humprhreys said that throughout the year First Milk continued to deliver high levels of service to our raw milk customers including Dairy Crest, Wiseman Dairies and Nestlé, while minimising the cost of haulage through efficient planning. From August 2007, as a result of their relationship with Wiseman Dairies, Tesco customers in Wales were able to buy fresh milk sourced from a dedicated group of our farmers in Monmouthshire and Glamorgan.

“Our cheese business is now well established in the marketplace" he said. "We have demonstrated that we can bring a detailed understanding of consumer demand alongside detailed category insight to our relationships with customers including Asda, Morrison’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. During the year, we were also successful in winning half of the co-operative’s retailer brand business. Our capability to supply award-winning cheddar from five creameries across England, Scotland and Wales is proving a key differentiator for us in a competitive marketplace."

“Over the last twelve months, our regional cheese brand offering has really taken shape. The relaunch of Scottish Pride in Scotland in June 2007 has been hugely successful. We quickly achieved listings with all the major retailers and Scottish Pride is already Scotland’s second top selling Scottish origin cheese brand. In England, we launched the Lake District cheese range in November. The brand is now well established in Cumbria and we are rolling it out now with multiple retailers. The Pembrokeshire Cheese Company range was launched in June 2008. The brand has huge potential to capture market share as only 6% of cheese currently consumed in Wales is of Welsh origin, compared to 27% in Scotland.

TheCattleSite News Desk