Food group posts good profits for UK business

In a trading update today (15 April) the chilled food manufacturer said that UK trading annual operating profit settled at £4.4 million year on 31 December 2009 compared to losses of £1.3 million a year before. Sales over the year reflected the challenging market conditions and were less than buoyant at £287 million, an increase of just 0.2%; but saw a significant pick-up of 4.5% in the last quarter. However, its final salary pension scheme deficit continues to weigh heavy at £463 milliion as of 31 Mach 2009. Pension related losses accounted for £11.3 million of the overall pre tax group loss from continuing operations of £18.5 million last year. Commenting on future strategy to tackle losses from pensions, chief executive, John Eaton (pictured) said: "We have also agreed in principle an innovative long term pension framework with the pension trustee which is subject to clearance by the Pensions Regulator. If cleared, this will facilitate our strategy to build a UK focused convenience food business with the quality and scale to generate sustainable growth." Uniq said that focusing on its UK operations would strengthen market positions and improve growth prospects. The closure of the Paignton factory and transfer of production to Minsterley reduced costs for the dessert business over the year. The company also invested in expanding capacity for its 'food and go' business to meet requirements of new contracts with Marks and Spencer and The Co-operative which Uniq claimed should generate an extra £27 million of annualised sales. The group sold its French and Dutch businesses for £60.9 million £18.0 million respectively. The German/Polish operations sale is expected to complete this month for £25.7 million. Proceeds from the sale of European operations are being used to reduce bank borrowings and fund Uniq's UK capital investment programme. Looking forward, chairman John Warren, said: "The next steps in our strategy are to consolidate improvements in the UK during 2010 and then build the scale of the business both through further organic development and through selective acquisition."