Cake firm celebrates profits hike

THE maker of low-fat cake for the Weightwatchers brand today said supermarket shoppers continued to have a taste for its products despite the downturn.

Finsbury Foods, which is the UK’s second largest supermarket cake supplier and also makes cakes for Thorntons and Disney, posted underlying profits of £5.8 million for the year to July 2, an increase of 8.3% after sales rose by 12.6% to £189.6 million.

Thorntons-branded sales jumped by 17% and Disney by 16% following heavy promotional activity and the success of Disney films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars 2, while Weightwatchers products also gained market share.

Finsbury said it was focused on making its products more affordable despite facing the rising cost of ingredients such as butter, sugar and wheat, where it expects high prices to persist or even increase in the future.

The group employs 1,050 people at its Lightbody factory in Glasgow, where it makes celebration cakes, including for Thorntons and Disney.

And Memory Lane Cake has around 900 people at Cardiff working on own-label cakes for retailers and Thorntons. A boost from promotions drove a double-digit sales rise at the factory, though margins were affected by higher input prices.

Chief executive John Duffy said that “keeping things affordable for the customer was essential”, adding that where possible the group will modify its product range to offset price increases.

Sales rose by 12% in its cakes business over the year to £139.6 million, with Finsbury’s bread arm, which includes speciality supplier Vogels and a range of gluten free products under the Genius brand, up by 14.2% to £50 million.

Bottom-line profits for the group rose by 22% to £5.9 million. Shares jumped more than 7% on the back of the results.