Brands have boosted sales at Premier Foods with Mr Kipling cited among the ‘standout performers’ of the financial year so far.
Overall sales for Premier Foods, as reported in its Q1 trading update posted today (18 July), are up 5.3% for the 13-week period to 29 June 2024 versus the prior year, with branded sales up 7.3%.
Its Sweet Treats division delivered sales of £59.9m during the period, which is 0.4% ahead of last year. Sales of branded sweet treats, including Mr Kipling lines, increased by 3.5% in the quarter, with market share increasing in both volume and value terms.
This, according to the manufacturer, partly reflects the more competitive promotional pricing of its brands which is ‘winning consumers at the expense of own label’. It cited the 16% reduction in non-branded sweet treat sales as evidence of this but added that contract exits also had an impact.
Mr Kipling Signature Brownie Bites were among the products highlighted in the update as continuing to perform well, with Premier Foods adding that in-store execution of both Mr Kipling and Cadbury cake was also a strong contributor of growth in the period.
The Mr Kipling premium Signature range was recently expanded with Chocolate & Caramel Layer Cakes and Double Chocolate Cakes introduced to the line-up.
“We’ve delivered another quarter of strong branded sales growth, yet again demonstrating the strength of our portfolio and the effectiveness of our branded growth model,” said Premier Foods CEO Alex Whitehouse. “During the quarter, we have gained both value and volume market share in Grocery and Sweet Treats, as more shoppers bought more of our leading brands, delivering good volume growth across our categories.”
He also noted a 24% increase in international sales. Mr Kipling was a key contributor to this, particularly in North America where revenue grew by 21% after the brand was rolled out across 800 stores in Canada.
“As we look forward to the rest of the year, we have a strong set of marketing and product innovation plans for our brands in the UK and Ireland, while we continue to build distribution internationally. We expect to see more volume led branded sales growth in the coming quarters, further progress overseas and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged,” he said.
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