Barnsley-based scone specialist Haywood & Padgett has reported “extraordinary” results for its latest financial year with double-digit growth seen in turnover and profit.
The family-run firm – which has just been named a finalist for Bakery Manufacturer of the Year 2024 – posted sales of £43m for the year ended 31 October 2023 in its latest filing to Companies House, up by 20% on the £35.6m from FY22.
Haywood & Padgett supplies own-label scones to the majority of supermarket retailers, producing a million units per day at its site on Carlton Industrial Estate with a workforce of 210 people. The company said it believed its growth last year was due to delayed price increases following commodities rising in the previous accounting period, as well as improved volumes as the year progressed.
Trading in the early part of 2023 had been very difficult with price increase negotiations still taking place, noted the supplier, but new supply deals in the foodservice sector and large one-off orders both from the UK and overseas customers such as Aldi in Germany and Costco in China helped benefit revenues.
The Yorkshire firm said it had also closely examined all areas of the business to identify opportunities to improve or cut back on costs. During the period, it had made changes to some work patterns and staffing, and empowered department heads to implement savings. Investments in new travel ovens and spiral coolers had afforded increased throughput and improved the bake consistency, while additional packing lines were also brought online.
These improvements in operational efficiency, combined with some relief from packing and ingredients costs late in the financial year, saw gross profit at Haywood & Padgett leap from £4.7m in FY22 to £11.4m. Its profit after tax soared to £5.7m, more than three-and-a-half times the £1.6m from the prior term.
The acquisition of Nibnibs last year (previously a 75% subsidiary) forms part of the manufacturer’s future growth plans, including a view to offering the baked snack brand’s existing customers a new range of products and expanding its market share. Haywood & Padgett said it had also ‘invested significant time and resource into finding the right mix of products to take to market and rebranding the business to take it forward’.
As revealed in its Baking Industry Awards 2024 entry, plans are also afoot for Haywood & Padgett to enter new Asian markets with its scones.
A recent Google search data study from Alternix found that scones were by far the most searched British product by people living overseas. Almost 1.8m monthly searches were made for scones across 25 countries other than the UK including Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. This compared to 243,860 searches in a month for Yorkshire puddings, 155,390 for crumpets, 152,310 for chocolate digestives, and 113,240 for Bakewell tarts.
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