Mr Kipling and Bisto owner Premier Foods is hiking prices to tackle soaring inflation rates

Premier Foods, owner of leading FMCG including Mr Kipling, Bisto and Oxo, said it will raise prices in a bid to mitigate further cost inflation.

The news comes after the company revealed its pretax profit fell to £102.6 million for the 52 weeks ended 2 April 2022, compared to £122.8 million in 2021.

Premier Foods said the drop in profit reflected a £33.6 million Hovis disposal gain the year before.

Adjusted profit before tax was up 11.4% to £128.5 million. Premier Foods commented this was due to reduced interest costs.

Overall, the group’s revenue fell to £900.5 million from £947 million. The company said this was because of the lapping effect of exceptional pandemic related volumes.

The grocery revenue was lower this year compared to last year with branded and non-branded revenue down by 6.9% and 4.5% respectively.

The board declared a final dividend of 1.2 pence a share, a 20% rise from last year.

READ MORE: Premier Foods launches non-HFSS Mr Kipling cake range

“In January, we increased our full-year profit guidance, and so it’s particularly pleasing that we have exceeded those increased expectations with trading profit up 11.9% and adjusted PBT up 37.6% compared to two years ago,” Premier Foods chief executive Alex Whitehouse said.

“As we enter FY22/23, we have strong growth plans in place including several new product launches such as the range of Mr Kipling Deliciously Good cakes.

“We anticipate seeing further input cost inflation which we will continue to address using a combination of measures, as we have successfully done before, and including cost efficiency programmes and increased pricing.

Commenting on Premier Foods’ preliminary results, partner at Begbies Traynor Julie Palmer said: “Despite supply chain issues and rising input costs, Premier Foods announced an upgrade to full-year profit guidance after it beat market expectations back in January and it is pleasing to see that these positive trends continued into the final quarter.

“That being said, if the Governor of the Bank of England’s warning of apocalyptic food price increases later this year comes true then Premier might feel compelled to keep raising its prices for its beloved stable of brands.

“With families already facing the greatest pressure on their finances in over 40 years, any additional price increases to some of their food staples might make customers think twice before adding another packet of Mini-Rolls to the weekly shopping basket.”

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1 Comment. Leave new

  • Ken Christy
    May 18, 2022 11:02 am

    Don’t just expect to see price increases, but also reduction in packet sizes. The squeeze also is really on.

    Reply

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