Alex Whitehouse, Chief Executive Officer
“We have again made very good financial and strategic progress in the first half of this year, reporting strong Group and branded revenue growth in what continues to be a challenging environment. Our margins were in line with last year, and we delivered adjusted PBT growth of nearly 12% due to our consistently good trading performance and lower interest costs following our refinancing in H1 last year.” “We continue to deliver against our five pillar growth strategy: our UK Branded revenue has now grown 5% on average over the last three years; we continue to invest in our supply chain to drive efficiencies; revenue from extending our brands into new categories more than doubled, and International revenue increased by 11%8 . Additionally, we have welcomed the highly complementary brand The Spice Tailor into our portfolio in the first half; our first acquisition for over 15 years.” “The financial resilience of the Group is illustrated by our strong underlying cash generation, our 2026 dated fixed rate bonds following our 2021 refinancing, continued commitment to a leverage target of 1.5x and limited direct exposure to the US Dollar.”
“The current economic climate is undoubtedly challenging for consumers, and our broad range of affordable brands have always played a key role for families when times are tough. With people starting to eat out less, they often find the best restaurant in town is at home, where you can make nutritious and tasty meals more affordably. In this environment, our portfolio of brands continues to display strong momentum and are well placed to deliver further growth.” “As we look to the second half of the year, we will be launching more consumer insight driven new products such as Plantastic branded Millionaire Flapjacks, Mr Kipling Brownie Bites and pigs-in-blanket flavour Bisto granulesfor Christmas, in addition to further advertising behind our major brands. A big feature of our brand activation will be helping people cook and prepare affordable meals at home for just £1 per serving through our “Best Restaurant in Town” campaign.” “We continue to see further input cost inflation, which we expect to recover through a combination of cost savings and our annual price increase in quarter four this year. Following a strong first half and with good momentum as we enter H2, we are on track to deliver on expectations for FY22/23.”
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