Dairy Crest shares soar, chief exec retires
Friday morning, after the group reported in-line trading and the
retirement of its chief executive.
Dairy Crest, Britain's largest dairy group, saw shares jump to 509.5p early Friday, the highest price for more than three months.
The rise came after Dairy Crest announced it would appoint Mark Allen, current head of its dairies division, as company chief executive next January. Current chief executive Drummond Hall will take early retirement.
Analysts reacted positively to Allen's promotion. He has been with the group since 1991 and, according to the company, played a major role in building the Cathedral City cheddar cheese brand.
Cathedral City recently confirmed its position as Britons' favourite cheddar brand, increasing sales by 17 per cent in value and 11 per cent in volume during Dairy Crest's financial year ended 31 March. The group recently launched a mild version of the cheese.
Dairy Crest, alongside its appointment of Allen, said trading remained in-line with expectations for the year.
The group increased sales by more than £100m to £1.4bn last year, although profits tumbled amid rising costs and a 17 per cent drop in milk sales to retailers. It predicted in May that commodity markets would remain challenging, but that branded product lines would continue to grow.
The firm's latest attempt to push up branded sales began last week with an advert campaign promoting Country Life butter for being British. The ads attacked rival Arla Foods UK for getting its Anchor butter brand shipped 11,000 miles from New Zealand.
Arla fought back this week, announcing its Yorkshire Butter had scooped a string of awards at the Cheese and Dairy show, held in Harrogate, Yorkshire. The butter was made at Arla's local Settle creamery. "Winning awards for butter is not unusual at the creamery," the firm said.
