The maker of Batchelors Super Noodles and Angel Delight has extended promotional price cuts to more products, including Loyd Grossman cooking sauces and Mr Kipling Bakewell slices.
However, Premier Foods is continuing to increase the cost of the own-brand products it makes for retailers and the food ingredients it supplies them, adding to inflation in shoppers’ baskets.
One of the UK’s biggest food manufacturers, Premier hailed its biggest ever Christmas, with grocery sales up 11.9% year on year in the 13 weeks to 30 December. Overall group sales rose 14.4%, as the company grabbed a bigger share of the market. International sales increased 11%.
Bisto gravy, Oxo stock pots, Sharwood’s Indian cooking sauces and Mr Kipling snack packs have been reduced in price, after a similar announcement of cuts on certain lines in November. However, Premier flagged price increases in retailer branded products compared with the same period last year.
Alex Whitehouse, the chief executive, said: “The lower promotional price points we introduced in the third quarter have positively impacted performance while also helping consumer budgets go further. These lower prices will be extended to additional products … in quarter four.”
The company said a lot of its volume was sold on promotion throughout the year.
Food prices have been rising steeply in the past couple of years, as manufacturers pass on higher energy and labour costs to customers. Food inflation has eased in recent months, bringing some relief to consumers.
Premier sold 4m more mince pies in the Christmas period than the year before, while new product ranges such as Bisto meat-free gravy, Oxo stock pots and Paxo chicken and bacon stuffing also did well.
The company said it was “well on track” to meet its previously raised profit expectations. In November, Premier upgraded its annual profit forecast for the second time in 2023.
The company, which reported a 21% increase in adjusted profits before tax of £56.9m in its first half, said it expected full-year trading profits to be 10% ahead of last year’s £157.5m.
