A taste for pork provides boost to Cranswick sales

The Hull-based group said sales in the three months to June 30 rose to 198m, excluding revenues from the pet business which was sold last year.

The company, which supplies fresh pork and gourmet sausages to leading supermarkets such as Sainsbury's and Tesco, said it has started the current financial year in line with its expectations.

Cranswick's chief executive Bernard Hoggarth said: "Whilst there was a reduction in sales of continental products, there were substantial gains in fresh pork, bacon and sandwiches and continued growth in cooked meats and sausages."

The increase in sales reflects organic growth of six per cent, and 13 per cent from CCF Norfolk which it acquired in June 2009.

The company's net debt at the end of June stood at 54m, which is a reduction on the year-end level and 10m lower than a year ago.

This was despite substantial capital investment over the past year. Capital projects remain on schedule, with the Lazenby's sausage facility expansion due to complete over the summer and the Hull fresh pork development during the autumn.

There were further modest increases in pig prices during the period, although they remain below the peak of last summer.

The impact was absorbed through increased volumes and operating efficiencies.

Cranswick said that good progress continues to be made in integrating the Norfolk facility, with the recent capital investment programme delivering increased capacity and operational benefits. The group said it is confident about the continued successful long-term development of the company.

Cranswick has prepared for a long, hot barbecue summer with an extensive upgrade of its production facilities to allow it to ramp up production of sausages and kebabs when the sun shines.

New facilities mean that it can produce over seven million sausages a week and 800 packs of kebabs an hour, 24 hours a day when the weather is hot.

Consumers are spending more on air-dried bacon, premium sausages, fresh pork and ham and Cranswick believes this is set to continue.