Dairy Crest full year profit up 23%

Dairy Crest reported a 23% rise in profit for the year ended 31 March and expressed confidence it could growth its market share.

Pre-tax profit rose to £45.4m from £36.8 in 2015, despite a 6% drop in revenue to £422.3m, due to a lower level of exceptional items incurred.

Combined volumes of the group’s four key brands were up 2% and Dairy Crest proposed a final dividend of 16p per share, up 1.9% from the previous year and giving a full-year dividend of 22.1p from 21.7p.

Chief executive Mark Allen said: "Although we expect food price deflation to persist in the short term, the business is well positioned to deliver profitable and sustainable growth.

“We are making progress with all of our four key brands and the continued investment we are putting behind them this year gives me confidence that we can continue to grow their market share.”

Allen added that future cash generation was set to improve as the sale of the Dairies business and completion of the investment at Davidstow removes a significant drain on cash.

The company’s Cathedral City cheese saw volume growth of 6.4% and sales growth of 0.8%, but there was a 6.4% drop in volumes for Clover and a 14.9% drop in its sales.

Country Life saw 3.9% volume growth but a 6.2% drop in sales, while volume growth for Frylight oils was 29.1% and sales growth was 27.9%.