Manchester marmalade maker Duerr’s has set firm its post-Covid recovery, with solid sales growth helping maintain the company’s record level of profits from 2024.
Operating profits grew 1.7% to £4.5m in the year to 31 March 2025, with profit before tax falling slightly from £4.1m to £4m.
Sales at F Duerr & Sons grew 10.6% to £93.5m, as new customers and better volumes joined with inflation-linked pricing increases to preserve profit.
“The growth in turnover reflects a strong underlying performance, led by a circa 20% increase in nut butter volumes, and higher raw material costs versus the previous year,” explained MD Richard Duerr.
“Despite significant increases in labour and other operating costs, this resulted in a stable and resilient profit outcome, with profits broadly flat year on year.”
The slight rise in operating profit kept Duerr’s in line with 2024’s strong growth from £589k in 2023, itself a recovery from the loss of £1.1m in 2022.
“In financial year 2023/24, the business saw a gradual recovery from a difficult period and some foundations for stability were established,” read a company statement attached to the accounts.
“The past 12 months have therefore seen Duerr’s build on those foundations by maintaining our customer base and SKU range across the whole business.
“Whilst there has inevitably been some inflationary growth in the sales line, there has also been success in winning new customers and volume.”
While the vast majority of Duerr’s sales come from the UK, around 4.2% of sales – £3.9m – come from the rest of Europe, largely in Ireland and specialist retailers.
European export sales fell by £1m on 2024, when they made up 5.9% of sales.
No comments yet