AGM Statement

RNS Number : 9629H

Finsbury Food Group PLC

21 November 2018

 

Date:	21 November 2018
On behalf of:	Finsbury Food Group Plc ('Finsbury', 'the Company' or 'the Group')
For immediate release

Finsbury Food Group Plc

AGM Statement

Finsbury Food Group Plc (AIM: FIF), a leading UK speciality bakery manufacturer of cake, bread and morning goods for both the retail and foodservice channels, will be holding its Annual General Meeting today at 9.30am. At the meeting, Peter Baker, Non-Executive Chairman of the Company, will make the following statement:

"As reported at the Group's full year results in September, we continue to trade in a difficult environment with sustained inflationary pressures. Despite this, our ongoing investment programme, underpinned by our strong cash flow, continues to drive operational efficiency and alongside this, we are mitigating cost inflation through price recovery.

Whilst weaker customer demand over the summer season has resulted in sales being weighted to the second half, current trading is underpinned by a number of significant contract wins heading into the strong Christmas trading period which will deliver sales growth in both the first half and beyond. As such, the Group expects to be in line with expectations for FY19.

The integration of our recent acquisition, Ultrapharm, is progressing well and additional capacity will be delivered by the end of the existing fiscal year in both Poland, with a new factory lease signed, and in Wales.

Overall, the Group continues to deliver on its strategy, focused on driving growth organically and through M&A. We continue to strive to achieve our vision of being a leading speciality bakery group, producing a broad range of high-quality products that deliver growth and differentiation for our customers, while fulfilling the needs of end consumers, both in the UK and in Europe."

For further information:

Finsbury Food Group                       John Duffy (Chief Executive) Steve Boyd (Finance Director)	www.finsburyfoods.co.uk	029 20 357 500
Cenkos Securities Max Hartley (Corporate Finance)
Alma PR                                          Rebecca Sanders-Hewett Sam Modlin	[e-mail]	020 3405 0205

Notes to editors:

·      Finsbury Food Group Plc (AIM: FIF) is a leading UK manufacturer of cake and bread bakery goods, supplying a broad range of blue chip customers within both the grocery retail and 'out of home eating' foodservice sectors including major multiples and leading foodservice providers.

·      The Company is one of the largest speciality bakery groups in the UK and, with its Overseas division, has sales in the financial year ending 30 June 2018 exceeding £300m.

·      The Company's bakery product range is comprehensive and includes:

-      Large premium and celebration cakes.

-      Small snacking cake formats such as cake slices and bites.

-      Artisan, healthy lifestyle and organic breads through to rolls, muffins (sweet and savoury) and morning pastries, all of which are available both fresh and frozen dependent on customer channel requirements.

·      The Company is one of the largest ambient cake manufacturers in the UK, a market valued at over £950 million (source: IRI, 52 w/e 23^rd June 2018). The annual retail bread and morning goods market has a value of £4.3 billion (source: Kantar Worldpanel 52 weeks to 17th June 2018). The UK foodservice bread and savoury morning goods bakery sector is worth approximately £691 million per annum (source: derived from MCA data for 52 weeks to 31st March 2018). The UK foodservice cake and sweet morning goods bakery sector is worth approximately £807 million per annum (UK foodservice data derived from MCA data for 52 weeks to 31st March 2018).

·      The Company comprises a UK Bakery division and an Overseas division:

-      The UK Bakery division has manufacturing sites in Cardiff, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Salisbury, Sheffield, and Manchester.

·      The Overseas division comprises the Company's 50% owned company, Lightbody Stretz Ltd, which supplies and distributes the Group's UK-manufactured products and third party products, primarily to Europe.

·      Since the year end date of 30^th June 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of Free From baker Ultrapharm, giving the Group a significant opportunity to access an exciting and high growth marketplace and manufacturing facilities in Pontypool in the UK and in Zywiec, Poland.

 

END

 

 

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