Cranswick expects full-year profits to be at the upper end of expectations after a strong first half, in another sign that meat is back on the menu.
The business’s adjusted pre-tax profit jumped 23.6% to £81.6m in the six months to 23 September as sales grew 12.3% to £1.25bn.
The UK food producer of pork, bacon, sausages and poultry’s success comes as vegan products suffer a fall in demand.
Sales of meat alternatives are down 13.6% over the past year, as vegan brand Beyond Meat revealed last week its revenues had plummeted by 9%, leading it to cut a fifth of its workforce.
Cranswick said it had experienced effective inflation recovery and “resilient” volume growth across each of its food categories.
It continued to invest in its meat production, spending £62m in the expansion of its Hull pork processing site.
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Cranswick chief executive Adam Couch said: “Our relentless focus on quality, service, innovation, and managing our cost base through this extremely challenging inflationary cycle, allied to delivering exceptional customer service, has underpinned these results.
“Momentum has continued through the start of the third quarter as our customers and the UK consumer continue to appreciate the affordability, value for money and versatility of our core pork and poultry categories.”
Looking ahead, Crouch said: “Notwithstanding the many challenges that we, our industry and the wider economy continue to experience, I am confident that the strengths of our business, which include its diverse and long-standing customer base, breadth and quality of products and channels, robust financial position and industry leading infrastructure, will support the further development of Cranswick in the current financial year and over the longer term.”
