Strategy in action: Build international businesses with critical mass

Our international strategy is focused on building sustainable business units overseas, to deliver growth of specific brands in selected geographies, through the application of our brand building capabilities.

The brands in our portfolio which we are focused on are Mr Kipling, Sharwood’s and The Spice Tailor. Our main target markets are Australia & New Zealand, North America and EMEA.

Our most established overseas market is Australia, where we hold leading positions in the Cake and Indian cooking sauces categories, with market shares of 15% and 25% respectively.

This year, we have really enhanced the application of our Branded Growth Model in the Australian market. For example, Mr Kipling has benefitted from increased TV advertising, now across three regions, while we also invested in advertising The Spice Tailor on TV for the first time.

In terms of new product development, we launched Sharwood’s Indian cooking sauces in larger, family sized jars which have performed well, while The Spice Tailor extended its range to include Spicy Butter Chicken and Coastal Mango variants. Additionally, we have strengthened our retailer relationships during the year, partnering with charity and promotional events.

In New Zealand, we have achieved distribution of Sharwood’s Indian cooking sauces for the first time in Foodstuffs.

In the US, we achieved our first listings for The Spice Tailor and launched new packaging for Mr Kipling, emphasising its British credentials. In Canada we have been expanding our distribution of both  Mr Kipling and The Spice Tailor and we are now present in 1,000 retailer stores with Mr Kipling and over 1,400 for The Spice Tailor.

Rate of sale for both sets of product ranges are building, with both the increased distribution and run rates contributing to North America revenue growth of 16% this year.