Lees overcomes the snow to improve sales but warns on coconut costs
1 min read
In a trading update today (6 January) the Scottish firm Lees Foods reported that its sales for 2010 were ahead of the previous year and it had hit its profit targets but warned that commodity price increases could impact the business.
The Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire-based company – which is the parent company of Snowball cakes and Jaffa bar maker Lees of Scotland and ice cream cone manufacturer The Waverley Bakery – said annual sales closed at approximately £18.7m for the year to December 2010, around 2.5% ahead of sales in 2009. Pre tax Profits for 2010 are expected to be in line with expectations.
Chief executive Clive Miquel commented: "We are pleased to report an excellent performance in 2010 that has built on the record year that we had in 2009. Sales growth was achieved across most product categories which was very satisfying especially given the adverse weather conditions we experienced in December. However the tremendous efforts made by the staff to both get into work and clear snow, enabled trucks to be despatched and minimised disruption to customer orders."
"Towards the end of the year we were hit by unprecedented commodity and packaging cost increases. As an example, the price of coconut, an important ingredient for Lees, has more than doubled over recent months. It is too soon to estimate the net impact on the business for this year, as we are working very hard to mitigate these increases both through improved efficiencies and by passing a proportion of these costs onto our customers."
