Northern's taste for British sweets

By SARAH MARKS FOR MAILONLINE
Updated:

 

NORTHERN Foods is hunting for British sweetshop favourites to build a 'serious business in confectionery' that would push annual sales from the present £20m to around £100m a year.

Chief executive Jo Stewart revealed the plan as he reported a 3.9% rise in underlying full-year profits to £104.1m.

Following the successful conclusion of a four-year campaign to prise Fox's Glacier Mints from Nestle, Stewart said: 'In general terms we're looking at the tail of the major sweet companies' portfolios and we'd always be interested in high-quality after-dinner mints.'

Transferring production of Payne's Poppets and Just Brazils to the new Leicester factory with the loss of 150 jobs in Croydon, Surrey, will cost around £5m next year.

The company, which supplies some of Britain's biggest supermarket chains, has also called on the Government to investigate the food supply chain following the recent scares triggered by mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth.

'We believe that there is a need for government at both the UK and European level to lead a fundamental re-examination of the relationship between supermarkets, food manufacturers and farmers,' Northern added.

Stewart said he was 'reasonably pleased' with the 'solid performance' in the year to 31 March. After exceptionals, profits before tax were £94.6m compared with £74.8m last year on sales up 2.9% to £1.38bn. Sales to the group's five largest customers were up 7% in the first seven weeks of this year.

A final dividend of 4.8p lifts the total 6.2% to 7.7p. The shares closed at 137 1/2p, down 1/4p.

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