News

Dairy Crest announces ”robust performance”

15 Feb 2016

Dairy Crest has issued its Interim Management Statement for the nine months ended 31 December 2015, noting that the outlook for the full year remains in line with its expectations and claiming a robust performance in a deflationary environment.

Dairy Crest has issued its Interim Management Statement for the nine months ended 31 December 2015, noting that the outlook for the full year remains in line with its expectations.

In a challenging market, Dairy Crest said that its cheese and spreads brands have performed well, with all four key brands increasing or maintaining value share in the quarter. Combined sales of Cathedral City, Country Life, Clover and Frylight over the nine month period have remained broadly in line with the same period last year and volumes have increased by 2%. This, the company says, is a robust performance in what remains a deflationary environment for both cheese and spreads.

In the third quarter, Dairy Crest said that Cathedral City and Frylight have built on the strong performances seen in the first half of the year, while Clover Simple, which has no artificial ingredients, launched successfully in September 2015 and Clover volumes have since grown year on year. Country Life sales volumes have increased markedly in the third quarter, according to the company,benefitting from promotional activity built around the “Best of British” packaging.

Production of demineralised whey powder and galacto-oligosaccharide (“GOS”) has commenced at the Dairy Crest factory in Davidstow. These are both ingredients for the growing, global infant formula market which the company believes will give Dairy Crest access to new growth markets and customers.

“Dairy Crest is now a branded and added-value business well placed to achieve profitable and sustainable growth,” said Mark Allen, Chief Executive of Dairy Crest. “The strength of our brands is demonstrated by their performance in a challenging, deflationary consumer environment. We are also entering an exciting new chapter for Dairy Crest. Our functional ingredients business will be a key part of Dairy Crest in the future, giving us access to new growth markets. The outlook for the full year remains in line with our expectations.”