UK dairy group Dairy Crest today (18 May) booked an increase in adjusted pre-tax profits for the year ended March, marking what it said was a “robust” performance following the divestiture of its loss-making liquid milk business to Muller. 

Adjusted pre-tax profits for the period were GBP£60.6m (US$78.5m) compared to GBP57.7m in the year-ago period.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

Profit before tax was down 11% from the previous year to GBP40.3m and revenues dipped to GBP416.6m from GBP422.3m previously.

However, Dairy Crest said its Cathedral City brand returned to volume growth in the second half, while its Frylight, Clover and Country Life spreadable all grew volume and increased market share.

Chief executive Mark Allen said: “In the first full year since the transformational sale of our dairies business, we have delivered a robust performance in a tough market.”

See Also:

“Our key brands are performing well,” Allen said. “Cathedral City remains the nation’s favourite cheese and following its brand refresh at the start of the year, the good progress and momentum we have seen in the last six months has continued in the new financial year. Our overall spreads market share has increased, and Frylight had another outstanding year with sales growing 19%. This is well ahead of the market. The ongoing investment that we are putting behind our brands gives me confidence that we can grow market share.”

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Allen said the company “continued to make good progress” on its newly-established demineralised whey operations and is “now hitting our targeted level of infant formula grade”.

“Developing our sales of demineralised whey and GOS into the high-margin global infant formula market will be a key priority this year,” Allen said.