Trend-led products have helped boost Mr Kipling sales by 10% taking the brand past the £200m mark for the first time.
The figure was revealed in owner Premier Foods’ half year results [26 weeks ended 26 September 2026], which showed a 6.9% increase in revenue to £142.2m for the firm’s Sweet Treats division. This was driven by £7.7m uplift in branded revenue to £123.3m.
However, non-branded sweet treats also performed well with a 7.8% uplift vs the year prior, taking sales to £18.9m thanks to contract wins on slices in the discounter channel. Divisional contribution was £11.9m, a reduction from the £14.2m seen in H1 2025/26.
The Sweet Treats innovation programme continued to yield ‘consistent and very strong results’, with Premier Foods highlighting 12 successive quarters of strong branded revenue growth.
In the first half of this year, Mr Kipling launched a raft of trend-led products to market including Birthday Cake Slices and a new range of Whirls flavours, including Cookies & Cream, Custard Cream and Lemon & Raspberry. Product launches from the prior year, including Cake Bites tubs and Breakfast Bakes, also strongly contributed to the H1 performance.
The sweet treats brand will continue this momentum by expanding its Cake Bites tub range later this year with variants including Tiramisu and S’Mores. Both the tubs range and Mr Kipling Signature mince pies will benefit from out of home marketing investment in the run up to Christmas.
“We have delivered another good half year performance, with Branded revenue growth of 3.2% and further market share gains due to strong execution of our Branded Growth Model,” said Premier Foods CEO Alex Whitehouse.
“Our Sweet Treats business continued its very strong revenue progress, driven by our highly successful innovation programme, which included the launch of new products such as Mr Kipling Custard Cream Whirls & Birthday cake slices. This has now delivered 12 consecutive quarters of Sweet Treats Branded revenue growth and propelled our largest brand, Mr Kipling, to become a £200m brand for the first time.”
Whitehouse added that the business was introducing an interim dividend for the first time in 19 years, reflecting the group’s “strong cash generation and our confidence in continued value creation for shareholders”. It also upgraded its adjusted PBT and EPS expectations.
He added that Premier Foods has “significant firepower” available to expand the size of the business through the acquisition of “further, future-focused, high growth brands”.
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