Cranswick has benefited from the rising demand for affordable proteins, its CEO has told The Grocer.
The pig and poultry supplier announced its UK food revenue had grown by 9.4% in the year to 28 March 2026, with strong volume growth of 8.3% and record Christmas trading.
Its poultry sales had grown particularly significantly, with revenue up 13.9%. This sector now represents 20.3% of group revenue.
“It underlines the affordability of the product ranges that we produce, both in poultry as well as pigmeat, and really resonates with the customers and consumers, especially in a more challenged economic environment,” said Adam Couch, CEO of Cranswick.
The growth is expected to be bolstered by investment at its facility in Eye in Suffolk, the equivalent of £56m which is set to increase throughput by 25% by summer of next year.
Mark Bottomley, Cranswick CFO, added there was an increased focus on health, convenience and affordability and “pork and poultry are very much the proteins of choice for all those three reasons”.
“I think there’s certainly a drive towards the reduction in processing within the sector itself to a clean declaration type products and that’s what we are seeing in the sausage fixture as well as the cooked meat fixture,” he said.
This growth comes despite Cranswick facing questions over its animal welfare last year with several investigations revealing poor treatment on sites.
Couch said that the business took it as an “ultimate priority” and pointed to the independent veterinary review that it undertook and the establishment of its animal welfare hub.
“I think some of the structures that we now have in place are industry leading, so we take it obviously extremely seriously, and we’re dealing with those issues,” Couch added.
The business made a record £163m investment across the business last year, bringing the total invested to more than £560m over the past five years.
Bottomley added that the business was planning on continuing to invest 50% of EBITDA back into the business each year to “keep adding capacity, adding capability, driving operating efficiency improvements”.
“Our appetite to continue investing in our world-class asset bases is undimmed, and that will continue,” he added.
The business also made a number of significant acquisitions including JSR Farming Genetics, Blakeman’s and feed mills had been “really well received” according to Couch. Acquisitions would continue to be “very much a feature of our growth”, he added.
Challenges to come
Despite the positive results, Couch said the business was aware of ongoing challenges in the UK pig supply chain, as well as the increased risk of African swine fever, which was adding pressure to the business in terms of its biosecurity.
Other challenges include the ongoing conflict in Iran, which the business was bracing for and is expected to particularly impact feed and fertiliser costs.
“We buy an awful lot of feed – we’ve got four feed mills now, so it’s a key area that we look at,” said Couch. “We’re seeing wheat prices and barley prices raise a little, but of course the plantings are in the ground for now, and it looks like the harvest in the UK this year will be reasonably good, but of course it’s a world market, and it will be very much dictated to by fertilisers that are available for this next year’s plantings, from September onwards.”
He added that the business’ farmers were “very nervous”, not over a concern that there will be a lack of fertiliser but that “the cost is significant”.
No comments yet