Iceland has announced a like-for-like sales increase of 1.1 per cent for the year ending 29 March 2013.
However, profits are down at the retailer, with pre-tax profits for the year standing at £127.7 million, compared to £199.2m in 2012. The budget supermarket chain opened 33 new stores and created 1,250 new jobs over the year.
'During a very busy year for the Group we have not only delivered strong results but also strengthened our focus through the sale of the Cooltrader business, taken an important step towards vertical integration with the acquisition of our own ready meal manufacturing facility (Loxton Foods), and laid the foundations for further growth of the Iceland brand internationally,' said Iceland CEO Malcolm Walker.
Walker, who said profits were down due to costs associated with his £1.45 billion management buyout of the supermarket back in March 2012, also reiterated that Iceland's own brand products showed no traces of horse meat. In comparison, retailer's such as Tesco, which had four products contaminated with horse meat, have arguably been left tarnished by the scandal.
Famed for its frozen products, Iceland's fresh produce team exclusively revealed to FPJ, last year, that the retailer would move to sell more fruit and vegetables. Brigid Davidson, Iceland’s category controller for fresh produce, said the budget retailer wanted to change the perception among the fresh produce industry that it is only focused on frozen foods.
She said: “As a business we’ve grown our sales of fresh fruit and vegetables by 12 per cent this year and we’re definitely interested in adding new people to our supply chain; I think the next step is to build a network of growers across Europe.”
Iceland plans to open a further 40 stores this year, creating over 2000 new jobs.
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