Confectionery company Lees Foods says is on the acquisition trail to further boost its profile in the bakery industry after recording bumper profits last year.
Chairman and MD Raymond Miquel said the company was “actively looking” at possible acquisitions and has considered several possibilities.
“We are actively looking at possible acquisitions and have considered several possibilities to date,” said Miquel. “While none have come to fruition at this stage, we continue to pursue our objective of finding companies which will enable us to expand in the food industry.”
The company, which floated on the AIM stock exchange last year owns Lees of Scotland and The Waverley Bakery. It announced last month that it saw pre-tax profits rise 21% to £613,916 on sales up 5% to £13.4 million for the year ended 31 December 2005.
Miquel said the figures were satisfactory considering the extremely competitive market and the substantial cost increases which it had had to absorb - includinng raw materials, packaging and labour. He said the figures had been achieved in part through a new product development programme, with the introduction of a new tub range of mini snowballs, snowcakes and meringues, as well as a new Raspberry Coconut-Ice Bar.
Miquel added that sales for the next six months should be in line with last year although Lees would continue to be faced with cost increases which it could not pass on to customers.
Lees makes snowballs, teacakes, confectionery and meringues for most of the major food retailers including Tesco, Asda, Somerfield, Morrisons, Sainsbury, the Co-operative Society, Makro, Aldi and Farmfoods.
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