Premier Foods, the owner of Mr Kipling, reports robust sales figures in both the UK and Australia, with festive favourites like mince pies and Brownie Bites more than doubling year-on-year sales over the holiday period.
Following this performance, the company predicts its full-year profit to hit the higher range of market expectations—between £180.1m and £186.4m—prompting its share price to climb by nearly six per cent in early trading, as reported by City AM.
During the thirteen weeks concluding on December 28, Premier Foods’ overall sales escalated by 3.1 per cent, while their ‘Sweet Treats’ division, which Mr Kipling is a part of, saw an 8.9 per cent surge in sales.
Internationally, the company enjoyed a 29 per cent uptick in sales, achieving double-digit growth across all key markets, according to Premier Foods.
Australia’s affection for Mr Kipling and Canada’s uptake of meal kit The Spice Tailor—with Diwali bolstering the latter—stood out among the successes.
Inside Premier Foods’ Stoke-on-Trent factory which predominantly manufactures Mr Kipling productsPremier Foods has credited the improvement in sales to customers indulging more and opting to move towards premium product offerings.
Alex Whitehouse, CEO of Premier Foods, commented: “We are pleased to report another very good quarter of volume led branded revenue growth, accompanied by further market share gains, as our branded growth model continues to deliver well for us.”
“Our acquired brands, The Spice Tailor and FUEL10K, both delivered double digit sales growth, as we leverage our product innovation capabilities and commercial relationships to unlock their potential. “
“Ambrosia porridge pots and Cape Herb & Spice were standout performers of the 38 per cent growth in new categories in the quarter, while all our target overseas regions delivered further strong progress as International sales increased 29 per cent.”
“Having delivered very good volume led, branded revenue growth in our key third quarter, we’re now guiding Trading profit to the upper end of expectations for this financial year. As we look to the rest of FY24/25 and to the medium term, we expect to deliver further progress as we continue to execute against our five pillar growth strategy.”
Premier Foods’ share price has seen a rise of 27.6 per cent over the past year, but experienced a drop of 4.7 per cent month on month following a dip in mid-January.
Premier’s sites include the Ambrosia creamery in Devon, Mr Kipling bakeries in Barnsley and Stoke, the Moreton bakery in Wirral which makes Mini Rolls, its savoury products factory in Woksop which makes OXO and Bisto, a central warehousing hub in Tamworth, and a finance base in Manchester.
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