Fresca Group Ltd, the UK’s largest privately-owned fresh produce company, has posted a pre-tax profit of £4.9 million on turnover of £354m for the year to April 27, 2007.
The figure includes income from the joint venture with Manor Fresh, which took on the business formerly carried out by DGM during the last financial year.
Chairman Chris Mack said the year was a successful one for Fresca, which is the parent company of MM Global Citrus, Manor Fresh, Thanet Earth, Primafruit, Jack Buck Growers and M&W Mack and its divisions.
“It has been a busy year in the development of the group with a lot of work going into providing the business with a broad base for future growth,” he said. In April, chicory and celeriac specialist Jack Buck Growers was added to the fold, while in the same month, a 50:50 joint venture between Fresca and Martinavarro formed MM Global Citrus.
“This work has been underpinned by a very strong performance by the established Mack operations,” Mack said. Mack Multiples performed well across all of its product divisions, he added: “The operational areas of both warehouse and packhouse also performed well, offering higher standards of service at lower unit costs.” Mack’s wholesale division produced another record year, but Mack Service suffered a year of lower than hoped-for gross margins.
Primafruit, which experienced significant IT problems in the previous year, underwent a management restructure in 2006 - while the company performed better, Mack admitted that there is more to be done before Primafruit reaches its full potential under the Fresca umbrella.
Manor Fresh, the sole supplier of fresh potatoes to M&S, was seriously affected in 2006 by the weather-induced volume and quality issues with the UK crop. It therefore fell below anticipated profit expectations. “One of the benefits of operating a diverse group is that problems which affected Manor Fresh did not hinder the rest of the business,” said Mack. “The new financial year has got off to an excellent start and there continue to be excellent opportunities for both our existing businesses and for us to move into new areas of the fresh produce industry.”
