Boparan Holdings, the holding company for 2 Sisters Food Group, has reported full year sales to July 27, 2013, of £2,884.6 million (US$5598.5 million), an increase of 23.3 percent. Like for like sales were 5.6 percent higher, however operating profits fell by 14.4 percent to £92.2 million.
The company notes that its like for like sales were strong in tough trading conditions, and in line with expectations, as were those of its protein division, where a new business is being built. "Trading conditions have been very tough with inflation impacting cash squeezed consumers and the impact of the horsemeat scandal on the food sector," said Ranjit Singh, CEO of 2 Sisters Food Group. "By working with our customers we delivered good sales growth, although profitability was lower due to the impact of the headwinds in chilled and dilution from the Vion acquisition.
"We successfully completed the acquisition of Vion UK's poultry and red meat businesses and received unconditional clearance from the Office of Fair Trading on June 18, 2013," said Singh. "This is a strategic acquisition increasing capacity in poultry for future growth and serving more meal occasions. While Vion poultry is currently loss making, we have started to implement our integration plan and aim to get the business to break even in 2014."
The company adds that its European poultry business is continuing to diversify into retail customers and to reduce its cost base with two factories closed during the year and production transferred to other sites.
