UK poultry supplier Avara Foods has published its results for the financial year ending May 2023, stating that despite an overall loss, turnover saw an improvement of £3.3 million on last year.
The company said it had shown an increase in turnover to over £1.5 billion, but it reported an overall loss of £12.8 million after tax. It said that this was an improvement of £3.3 million on its May 2022 result.
According to Avara, financial performance reflected a "continuing tough trading climate" with new inflation driving costs higher and further depressing underlying demand.
Andy Dawkins, Avara CEO, said: "Given the anticipated prevailing economic and market conditions, financial performance for the period is in line with expectations.
"Avara's higher turnover has arisen from the inflationary pressure that has been well documented over the period, but this significant rise does not fully offset the total increase in production costs, resulting in an overall loss after taxation."
Dawkins added: "The proposed streamlining of Avara operational footprint requires difficult decisions but, thanks to a solid financial position with no bank borrowing, it has the financial resilience to take a deliberate approach, with difficult decisions managed sensitively and fairly."
Avara said that two years after setting its Science-based Targets, Avara is reducing carbon emissions "ahead of target".
Dawkins said: "We have worked hard with our customers to navigate the balance of covering costs while maintaining an affordable product for consumers. In the face of almost unprecedented inflation, it is perhaps unsurprising that not all costs have been recouped.
"Looking ahead our focus is in three areas: ensuring that our business completes its streamlining and optimisation plan to provide customers with great quality and value, while mitigating the impact of inflation; investing in growth in our successful added value product ranges with our partner customers, and meeting our commitments to be a responsible business, helping those same customers fulfil our shared climate goals.
"We're very confident that fresh poultry will remain a staple in shopping baskets and that demand will remain strong. The actions that we have started to put in place will put us in a stronger position financially and able to meet demand for our increasingly popular portfolio of products."
Looking ahead to 2024, Avara said it anticipates that conditions will "remain difficult" but it is confident that its plans will yield benefits.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
