In the last year it recorded double digit growth for its hugely popular Cathedral City and Davidstow cheeses, top-selling dairy spread Clover and its Frijj and Yoplait drinks.
Cathedral City, in particular, has seen sales double in the last five years and is now on a quarter of all UK households' shopping lists. Set against a declining market for mature cheddar, which has seen sales volumes fall by 2%, it's an even more impressive feat. Over the next year the dairy giant plans to establish the brand as the market leader in mature Cheddar, and plans to invest heavily in marketing activity.
The group operates 15 manufacturing sites and recently announced the creation of two super dairies at Chadwell Heath in London and Severnside. Chadwell Heath claims to be the largest dairy in the country and includes the UK's largest fully automated fresh milk coldstore.
In the last year, Dairy Crest launched olive oil and buttermilk spread Argento, supported by a three-month nationwide Italian themed sampling programme and TV ads. It also launched a new Frijj variant  a limited edition, Custard Pie  and added another four new tropical varieties to its Yoplait Best there is! range.
And it put big marketing spends behind the kids' fromage frais Frubes and Petit Filous. Marketers have steered parents from its Petit Filous for babies to lunchbox products for school age kids, with children themselves targeted through tie ups with the Cartoon Network.
But a bid to sell milk in bags failed to catch on with British consumers, despite the greenness of the concept in reducing rubbish. Dairy Crest's verdict: "Efficiency is at a maximum and there is no saving by introducing pouches."
On the back of its progress in added value brands, Dairy Crest's results this summer were healthy, with full year pre-tax profit up 29% to £73.7m on turnover up 5% to £1.37bn. It's made £11m in synergies from its Unigate acquisition.
Chief executive John Houliston, who retired in July, had pledged that the second half of the calendar year would be even more profitable, and that the firm would continue to achieve the returns shareholders wanted. Now the City and the industry are hoping that his successor Drummond Hall can take Dairy Crest on to even bigger and better things.
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Cathedral City, in particular, has seen sales double in the last five years and is now on a quarter of all UK households' shopping lists. Set against a declining market for mature cheddar, which has seen sales volumes fall by 2%, it's an even more impressive feat. Over the next year the dairy giant plans to establish the brand as the market leader in mature Cheddar, and plans to invest heavily in marketing activity.
The group operates 15 manufacturing sites and recently announced the creation of two super dairies at Chadwell Heath in London and Severnside. Chadwell Heath claims to be the largest dairy in the country and includes the UK's largest fully automated fresh milk coldstore.
In the last year, Dairy Crest launched olive oil and buttermilk spread Argento, supported by a three-month nationwide Italian themed sampling programme and TV ads. It also launched a new Frijj variant  a limited edition, Custard Pie  and added another four new tropical varieties to its Yoplait Best there is! range.
And it put big marketing spends behind the kids' fromage frais Frubes and Petit Filous. Marketers have steered parents from its Petit Filous for babies to lunchbox products for school age kids, with children themselves targeted through tie ups with the Cartoon Network.
But a bid to sell milk in bags failed to catch on with British consumers, despite the greenness of the concept in reducing rubbish. Dairy Crest's verdict: "Efficiency is at a maximum and there is no saving by introducing pouches."
On the back of its progress in added value brands, Dairy Crest's results this summer were healthy, with full year pre-tax profit up 29% to £73.7m on turnover up 5% to £1.37bn. It's made £11m in synergies from its Unigate acquisition.
Chief executive John Houliston, who retired in July, had pledged that the second half of the calendar year would be even more profitable, and that the firm would continue to achieve the returns shareholders wanted. Now the City and the industry are hoping that his successor Drummond Hall can take Dairy Crest on to even bigger and better things.
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