Sales are soaring at South Wales-based Brace’s Bakery, which has reported double-digit growth in turnover and a return to pre-tax profit.
Its latest accounts filed on Companies House, which cover the period from 2 October 2022 to 30 September 2023, show a 21.7% increase in turnover to £37.1m – up from £30.5m the year prior. EBITDA also rose significantly from £919k to £2.3m during the period with Brace’s reporting a return to profit before tax of £1.1m, up from a loss of £2k in FY22.
The bakery market remains competitive, the firm said in the filing, particularly as it was still battling inflation with key cost drivers of flour, ingredients, and labour rising. This, it noted, “left us no choice but to approach customers with a price increase; which, overall, was successful”.
Brace’s also highlighted changing shopper habits and increased competition from other players in the market but noted strong growth for certain products.
“Consumer behaviour is changing which has been driven by a more health-conscious culture and the cost-of-living crisis. We are seeing consumers switch into other bakery categories in place of their standard sliced loaf,” the company said. “Whilst we have been challenged by other offerings within the bakery category, we are seeing strong growth in our premium legend range,” the firm added.
Brace’s is a fourth-generation family business trading since 1902, which operates a plant bakery in Crumlin near Newport and supplies its branded range of products to major supermarkets in south Wales and the west of England. The company invested £4m in a new production line in 2022 for the manufacture of bread rolls, tea cakes and hot cross buns.
The firm specialises in sliced bread with ranges including the premium Welsh Legends with added sourdough, Luxury, and Classic. It also manufactures bread rolls and baps, as well as teacakes, crumpets, scones, Welsh cakes, and a fruit loaf.
It sought to revamp its Luxury range of sliced white bread this year. Created by its in-house design team, the new packaging features a fresher, more vibrant aesthetic compared to the previous traditional-style design used for the past two years. This is aimed at reinvigorating sales of standard sliced bread, which it said has been in decline since the 1980s.
Regardless of the wider challenges, Brace’s said it “looks to the future with confidence” as it invests in new product development, explore new markets, invests in equipment and its employees.
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