Innocent, the UK smoothie and Veg Pots maker, has reported a loss of GBP8.6m (US$14.4m) for 2008 as falling sales and the cost of building a European business hit the bottom line.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The company filed costs of GBP12m linked to developing its “nascent, high-growth” business on the Continent and said it would have returned a profit of GBP1.1m.
In a filing with Companies House, Innocent booked an operating loss of GBP10.9m and a post-tax loss of GBP8.6m for 2008 – compared to net profit of GBP8m in 2007.
Innocent described 2008 as a “challenging” year for the business, with sales down 12% to GBP99m and gross profit sliding 26% to GBP30.1m.
However, the company claimed its “underlying” UK business was profitable and was supporting the investment the group was making in Europe.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataLooking at the UK, Innocent said it hung on to a majority of the country’s smoothie market despite growing competition and claimed the launch of Veg Pots had been a “success”.
“In the light of the entry of two multinational FMCG competitors and a challenging macro-economic environment, the directors are satisfied that we maintained the majority share of the smoothie category at year-end, demonstrating the inherent desirability of our products,” Innocent said. “The launch of Veg Pots has been a success and is on-track to exceed GBP8m in revenue in 2009.”
