Finsbury Food Group has reported a 91% growth in its H1 UK bakery operating profit, from £3.8m to £7.2m.

In the figures for the 26 weeks ended 26 December 2015, it also revealed UK bakery revenue jumped 49% from £96.3m to £143.2m and like-for-like (LFL) sales were up 6.1%.

The company claimed success in both the cake, and bread & morning goods markets. It said revenue growth in the cake sector had been driven by a successful Christmas trading period and the success of such products as the Minions licensed celebration cake. Meanwhile, it said a focus on niche bread and morning goods helped defy a general value decline of -1.5% in that sector.

Finsbury Foods has been strengthened in recent years by the acquisition of Fletchers Bakeries in the autumn of 2014, and Johnstone’s Food Service in the summer of last year. The company said that Fletchers had expanded bread and morning good opportunities by bringing in new foodservice and retail customers, while Johnstone’s had allowed the company to move into the coffee shop market, an area it previously had little exposure to.

foreign sales

Foreign sales, primarily formed of the import of British baked goods into France, also saw growth, up 19% from £11.3m to £13.4m.

John Duffy, chief executive of Finsbury Food Group, said: “We are very pleased to once again be reporting a strong first-half performance, with our organic growth being supplemented by the acquisition of Fletchers and Johnstone’s. Alongside this growth, our capital investment strategy, together with our continued efficiency programme, has resulted in improved operating margins.

“Despite operating in a challenging market, we have created a group that is well-positioned to flourish in an improving environment and we look forward to benefiting from increased consumer confidence. Having built solid foundations and implemented a robust growth strategy that aims to create sustainable value for our stakeholders, we look forward to driving further growth both organically and through strategic M&A.”