Allied hits back at Warburtons' report

Allied said figures quoted in the review that suggest that Allied's Kingsmill brand had lost market share across the UK in the year to July 14 are misleading.

In fact, Kingsmill has grown market share faster than Warburtons, while other brands lost share, if performance in the 30 weeks after the Kingsmill relaunch up to 15 September (the latest data available from AC Nielsen) is compared with the 30 weeks prior to relaunch, Allied said.

Allied said Kingsmill's share grew from 15.6% to 16.9% (+1.3%) in value terms and in volume terms was up from 15.3% to 16.7% (+1.4%) during this period. In the latest four-weekly period Kingsmill's share was up to 17.3% in value and 16.9% in volume.

Over the same period, Warburtons' share increased by a similar amount in value but in volume only grew share by 1%, said Allied.

Warburtons had also cherry picked data and month-on-month comparisons to negate the success of the Kingsmill relaunch, Allied claimed. For example, in the North East a single month had been isolated to suggest that Kingsmill had seen a 19% fall in sales, when Kingsmill had actually grown share in the North East faster than any other brand, it said.

Kingsmill's share grew by 1.9 % in value and 2% in volume terms in the north east. Warburtons grew at 1.2% and 0.8% respectively.

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