Associated British Foods this morning (3 November) hailed an improved performance at its Allied Bakeries business, which has seen profitability increase over the last two years.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Speaking to analysts during a conference call, ABF chief executive George Weston said that the company was pleased with improvements made at its UK Allied Bakeries unit, which manufactures the Kingsmill and Allinson breads.
“Allied Bakeries has a good year – good sales growth, good share growth and good profits growth,” Weston revealed.
Declining to put a figure on profit generated at the unit, Weston did emphasise that investments in the business have begun to pay off in terms of improved profitability.
“It made money last year. It made more money this year. There is still some way to go, but we are getting to a level where shareholders would want us to be,” he commented.
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 GlobalDataABF posted a 4% increase in pre-tax profit, which rose to GBP655m (US$1.07bn). Sales gained 12%, increasing to GBP9.3bn.
The company said that its results were also boosted by a strong performance at its UK and African sugar businesses and gains in home baking sales.
However, margin compression and volume pressure at ACH, ABF’s North American edible oils business, dented profits.
“As a whole, first half problems in ACH – which were over by Easter – held our profit back,” Weston indicated.
