Organic producer and box-scheme retailer Riverford Organic Farms has seen turnover and profits climb in its latest financial report, mirroring the general upturn in the wider box-scheme market.

Turnover at the Devon company rose to £37.1 million in the year from 1 May 2011 to 5 May 2012, up from £34.3m during the previous 12-month period. And pre-tax profits increased by over £800,000 to £1.4m.

Managing director Rob Haward said: “Our good sales performance was achieved through a combination of increased customer spend and increased delivery numbers.”

He said Riverford was able to generate more new customers in the year than any other year since 2008 through more focused digital marketing activity and a good year for face-to-face customer acquisition at shows and events.

“While the market remained challenging, there were signs of improvement with customers seemingly more receptive to buying organic and seasonal food than they had been since 2008,” said Haward. “We also introduced some new products like our meat and vegetable combination boxes. The year was also helped by a good season for growing organic vegetables, which enabled us to maintain good product availability for our customers.”

Haward emphasised the importance of achieving this profit without compromising the value proposition of Riverford’s offer. “We have always sought to make organic food affordable and we continued in the year to protect our position of selling and delivering boxes for considerably cheaper – regularly 20 per cent cheaper – than you could buy the equivalent products in a supermarket. I am sure this helped us to hold on to our customers and build our customer base while other organic businesses have potentially struggled.”

At the end of the financial period the company launched a product development programme and its most notable successes have included a number of new box combinations

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