Cranswick has reported a 3.6% rise in pre-tax profits to £47.6 million, in the six months ended September 30, 2019.
The company, which also announced that total export revenue up 65%, including Far East export revenue 94% ahead, said that turnover jumped 7.1% to £770m.
Adam Couch, Cranswick’s chief executive, highlighted that the company has invested recordfirst-half capital expenditure of £56m to provide the platform for future growth.
He said: “We have made a positive start to the year with reported revenue growth of 7.1% underpinned by a very strong performance in our Far East export markets. The UK market remains highly competitive.
“We have again invested at record levels across our asset base to position the business for future growth. The Katsouris Brothers business, acquired in July, has been integrated successfully and is performing in line with our expectations.”
Mr Couch added: “We completed the build phase of our new Eye poultry facility on time and to budget with the commissioning process successfully started in early November.
“I remain confident that continued focus on the strengths of our business, which include long-standing customer relationships, breadth, quality and relevance of our products, robust financial position and industry leading infrastructure, will support the further successful development of Cranswick over the near and longer term.”
Steve Miley, a senior market analyst at www.asktraders.com, said: “These were a strong set of results from Cranswick. Export revenue from far eastern markets has almost doubled over the course of 6 months, lifting overall sales at Cranswick, for the quarter, by a solid 7.1%.
“The global outbreak of African swine fever has played into Cranswick’s hand, boosting demand for the UK producer’s produce, particularly in China which has been hard hit by the outbreak.
“Cranswick shares have already risen 22% so far this year as investors price in increased Chinese demand. However, investors were prepared to push the stock even higher on the back of today’s results.”
