Finsbury Foods’ profit has taken a severe hit, with adjusted pre-tax profit down 45% to £1.8m for the six months to 31 December 2008. Pre-tax profit stood at £0.2m compared to £1.6m in 2008, despite increasing sales in its bread and free-from divisions.

The cakes, breads and morning goods manufacturer saw revenue rise by 11% to £92.1m. But “significantly increased” investment in promotional support for customers and consumers as well as additional investment in the integration of its cake division have impacted profits.

The company’s cake division experienced a 4% rise in sales on last year’s figures, and its breads and free-from divisions saw like-for-like sales up 16% and 23% respectively.

Martin Lightbody, chief executive, said: “It is encouraging to see sales have remained resilient, despite the recessionary environment. We have focused our investment on further integration of our businesses and improving our facilities.”

The firm also saw extra distribution and utility costs of £1.2m over the period.

According to the statement released it had been an “extremely challenging period for Finsbury”, however Finsbury said trading for the first eight weeks from January has been in line with expectations. “Over these eight weeks, sales have increased by 4% in our Cake division, by 14% in our Free From businesses and by 6% in our Bread business.”