With its business interests based in processing poultry and pig meat, U.K. food producer Cranswick has improved on its performance for the first six months of the financial year, and achieved a 22.5 percent increase in revenue for the 2017 accounting year to GBP1.245 billion (US$1.61 billion).
Compared with overall global market development figures from a leading market research organization, Cranswick has out-performed its competitors in the fresh pork, gourmet product (sausages, bacons and pastry), convenience (cooked meats and continental products), and poultry meat categories.
Over the last 12 months, the firm has undergone two acquisitions – Crown Chicken and Dunbia Ballymena, a pig meat processor in Northern Ireland – and divested its sandwich business. Like-for-like revenue is up by 12.7 percent, and while adjusted profit before tax has increased 17.2 percent to GBP75.5 million (US$97.7 million).
For the financial year just ended, Cranswick reported higher export revenue – up by as much as 49 percent from the previous year for Far East markets, with the trade bolstered by favorable exchange rates and the string reputation of UK production systems for high animal welfare and food safety.
Cranswick investment plan
Supporting the company’s further growth is an investment plan valued GBP47 million (US$61 million). Work has already started on the largest project, a new facility for the production of Continental Fine Foods at Bury in Lancashire, and the slaughterhouse in Norfolk will be upgraded this year. Looking ahead to 2018, the firm is set to invest in its fresh pork plants in Hull and Ballymena.
