Wight Salads has insisted it is on course to return to profit in the near future despite posting a second successive year of heavy losses.

The premium tomato specialist reported turnover fell from £52.2 million in 2008 to £34.2m for the year to 31 December 2009.

Pre-tax losses in 2009 were £4.4m, an improvement on the £7.2m loss the previous year, while the business made an operating loss of £3.6m, compared with a £6.3m 2008 loss.

Turnover had principally fallen as the company had stopped procuring fruit from third parties and was now focused on growing all its own produce, chief executive Nick Stenning told FPJ. “We want to focus on our real strengths of being a vertically integrated business,” he said.

Wight Salads, which is one of the leading organic tomato suppliers, also suffered as demand for organics nosedived in the recession. The company admitted having to sell a large quantity of organically grown fruit as conventional, which hit margins.

Stenning said issues with its packaging operation had now been resolved and it had also made a “substantial investment” in six hectares of state-of-the-art glass in Portugal.

“We hope to return to profit soon,” he added. “The packhouse move is a significant step in the right direction. We have also had robust support from [Portuguese owner] RAR Group.”

Wight Salads had a change of management in January 2009, with Stenning replacing Jack O’Brien. RAR also owns Vitacress, also managed by Stenning, who said the two businesses would not merge but would integrate some back office functions.

Topics