United Biscuits (UB) has seen pre-tax operating profits fall 47.5% to £54.7 million in the year to 3 January 2015, according to newly filed Companies House accounts.

As reported in The Grocer, the drop is mostly due to one-off expenses including £12m of factory modernisation and head office restructuring costs and £38.5m associated with the acquisition of the company by the Turkish Yildiz Holding from Blackstone and PAI Partners in November 2014. The sale of KP Snacks in 2013 and a share-based payment charge of £12.1m also had an impact.

Operating profits before exceptional items were healthy, with a 7.7% increase to £152.3m deriving from stable revenues of £906.5m (0.1%).