CATHEDRAL City and Clover firm Dairy Crest has banked a 24 per cent rise in full-year profits after hiking prices and cutting costs to offset rising commodity pressures.
The Surrey-based group said double-digit increases in sales of its flagship brands lay behind the better-than-expected improvement in underlying pre-tax profits, to £96.1 million.
It has increased doorstep delivery milk prices from around 53p a pi
nt to between 55p and 59p a pint since last September, with prices for its cheese and spreads also up amid annual dairy inflation of more than 13 per cent.
The group has been battling against soaring food, fuel and commodity costs, while demand for doorstep delivery has also been on the wane.
But Dairy Crest, which owns doorstep milk delivery business Express Dairies, today said it had begun to halt the decline in milk-round sales.
New initiatives have helped limit the drop in underlying sales to below 7 per cent, down from falls of more than 11 per cent four years ago.
The firm added it is to extend its "milk&more" internet delivery service nationwide this year after a trial in South East London.
Customers across the majority of its 160 depots will be able to order milk and products such as organic vegetables, bread and fruit juice over the internet for delivery as part of its aim to revive the doorstep market.
Dairy Crest said customers on average buy 45 per cent more products through the new service.
It hopes to boost its 1.5 million milk round customer base as the online service rolls-out, even though it introduced "significant" price rises last autumn and confirmed today it increased prices again at the beginning of May.
It has also passed on higher costs to its supermarket clients - the "big-four" chains Tesco, Morrison, Sainsbury and Asda, as well as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
Total revenues in the 12-month period lifted 20 per cent to £1.57 billion.
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