| Dairy Crest, the UK’s leading chilled dairy
foods company with market leading brands Clover, Cathedral City,
Frijj and Petits Filous, today announces its unaudited results for
the six months ended 30 September 2002. Highlights include:
Financial
Adjusted profit before tax down 6.5% to £31.6 million (2001:
£33.8 million)
Adjusted earnings per share down 8.3% to 18.9 pence (2001: 20.6
pence)
Interim dividend up 6.3% to 5.1 pence (2001: 4.8 pence)
Operational
Synergies from Unigate acquisition being delivered in full and on
time
Double-digit volume growth by Dairy Crest’s market leading
brands
Sale of Westway site for £18 million completed on 3 October
2002
Acquisition of St Ivel Spreads business completed on 1 November
2002
Drummond Hall, Chief Executive, Dairy Crest Group plc, said:
“Our strategy to drive profitable growth and shareholder
value through our added value and branded business remains the Group’s
major focus. We believe that our strong portfolio of brands, together
with our position as the UK’s leading chilled dairy foods
company, provides us with sustainable competitive advantage. The
acquisition of the St. Ivel Spreads business represents an important
step in further increasing the proportion of the Group’s profits
from added value activities.
“Trading conditions in the commodity areas of the business
remain challenging and pressures in our liquid products business
are likely to continue. Overall, we expect profits for the second
half of the year to show good progress over the same period last
year, even before taking into account the benefits from the St.
Ivel Spreads acquisition.”
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