Glorious! Cuban corn

Sales at Liverpool-based food group Billington rose 7% to over £350m last year as its trading was boosted by the acquisition of Glorious! soup maker TSC Foods.

Newly filed annual accounts by Edward Billington & Son reveal sales growth from £327.9m to £351.2m in the year to 31 August 2015, with growth largely thanks to including the full-year sales of its January 2014 acquisition TSC for the first time.

TSC grew revenues by 54.8% to £50m despite what Billington’s called a “highly competitive” chilled foods market that affected profitability. Pre-tax profits for the division still rose by a third to £3m from £2.3m.

Overall Billington said the increases in group-wide sales volumes it saw were largely offset by the effect of lower commodity costs. English Provender Company saw turnover rise just 0.8% to £89.9m as falling commodity costs reduced selling prices, though the division’s pre-tax profits rose 19% to £7.9m as investment in production increased efficiencies.

Lower commodity prices hit other business arms included Carrs Billington Agriculture, which saw sales contract, and agriculture commodities trading arm Criddle & Co, which recorded a loss for the “first time in many years”. Nevertheless, the group saw growth in Wholesome Sweeteners, Billington Food Ingredients and Bar Foods.

Overall group pre-tax profit rose 25% to £18.5m during the year. This was partly driven a one-off gain from the sale of subsidiary Billington Bioenergy to Drax, which resulted in an additional profit of £2.7m.

In the accounts the directors said they were “pleased” with the group performance and chairman Lloyd Whiteley told The Grocer Billington’s has “continued to grow in the current financial year, albeit in challenging market conditions”.

The acquisition of TSC Foods helped swell the group’s headcount to 1,480 during the period from 1,209 last year.

UK sales accounted for all but £2.6m of the group’s sales last year, though this sum was up from £2.3m in the previous year.