Arla Foods UK has made a “strong recovery” in the second half of 2023, boosted by its strategic branded volume growth as inflation continues to ease.
The dairy products group made a net profit of £325m in 2023, while Arla Foods UK sales rose from 2.4% to £2.6bn. This is compared to its 17.5% growth in 2022, which was attributed to high inflation and elevated dairy prices.
Within the UK, branded volumes increased by 2.2%, bolstered by individual growth from brands such as Arla Protein, Starbucks and Arla Pro – which soared by 66.4%, 26.2% and 8.5% respectively.
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Overall, Arla Group secured sales of £11.7bn, a slight dip from its total revenue of £11.8bn in 2022.
Arla Foods UK managing director Bas Padberg said: “As we saw in the first half of 2023, inflationary pressure continued to dominate, however, thanks to the strong execution by our farmer-owners, employees and management, Arla has demonstrated its ability to adapt to challenging market conditions.
“As the UK’s largest dairy cooperative and supplier of some of the UK’s best-loved brands, it’s important that we ease pressures on cash-strapped shoppers when we can, as well as returning a fair price to our farmers so we can keep supermarket shelves full.
“Arla’s brand portfolio demonstrated its robustness in volatile conditions, and we made a strong recovery in the second half of 2023 with a strategic branded volume growth.”
Last August, Arla Foods lowered its annual revenue expectations following a fall in the price of milk as supermakets saw a greater demand for own-label dairy products.
