An improvement in cost control has been credited with a sales increase reported by G’s Marketing this week.
G’s returned a pre-tax profit of £2.7 million for the year to 1 May 2010, up from £2.2m the previous year.
Sales for the period were up 1.4 per cent to £179m and gross margins rose to 5.6 per cent, from 5.1 per cent in 2009.
Finance director Steve West claimed the growth was due to continued cost control within the G’s Marketing business. “We have had a little volume growth this year putting more through our customers, but there have also been some changes in our mix,” he said.
“Our gross margin has grown by 0.5 per cent which is really down to the team within G’s keeping control of costs.”
West expressed confidence for a good performance for the current financial year. “So far the weather has been kinder to us this year than last,” he said. “The brakes are not off yet in terms of the ongoing price pressure, but they are not as hard as last year - consumers are still being careful with what they spend and how,” he added.
Other highlights from the accounts filed at Companies House include dividends of £2.5m paid in the year to 1 May 2010, compared to zero dividends for the previous 12 months.
Total staff and directors costs including wages, salaries, social security and pensions rose during the period from £3.7m in the previous year to £4.2m in 2010, although staff numbers fell from an average of 102 in 2009 to 97 this year.
