British meat producer Cranswick said on Thursday trading was robust in December, as people thronged supermarkets for gourmet and ready-to-eat meat during the festive season.
The company, which supplies pork and poultry to most UK major supermarkets including Tesco, said its third quarter saw all product categories ahead of year-ago levels in its core domestic market.
Britons, who are facing rising prices and an income squeeze, loosened their purse strings towards the end of 2022, celebrating the first pandemic-restrictions free holiday season in two years.
'Inflationary Pressure'
"The broad-based inflationary pressure we are experiencing across our cost base continues to be well controlled and mitigated," chief executive officer Adam Couch said.
Cranswick, which had earlier seen exports to its far east markets such as China suffer, said on Thursday higher prices have helped sales in the region, somewhat offsetting low volumes.
Divisional Performance
Growth in revenue in its poultry division was driven by the new Hull breaded poultry facility, which offset lower sales from the Hull cooked poultry facility.
Revenue in the fresh poultry segment saw a very limited impact following Avian influenza outbreaks at five poultry farms operated by the company.
The company's pet products unit made a modest contribution to group revenue in the third quarter, the company noted. It made progress in reshaping the business for the future to make its manufacturing operations more efficient and build its customer base.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM – your source for the latest A-Brands news. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
