Listed bakery Finsbury Food Group (FIF) said the enlarged group was “well equipped” to weather any potential Brexit storm as it reported sales growth of 25% following the integration of Fletchers and Johnstone’s.

Revenues for the 53 weeks ended 2 July jumped 24.8% to £319.7m as it benefitted from the acquisitions made in the previous financial year of the morning goods specialist Fletchers and Johnstone’s, which opened up the coffee shop market.

The full-year sales growth includes like-for-like growth of 5% - an increase of £12.8m – as the UK bakery division grew by 3% on a like-for-like basis and the overseas division, the group’s 50% owned European business, rose by 25.7%.

Sales to the foodservice channel also accounted for 21% of total UK bakery sales revenues and grew by 5.3% on a like-for-like basis.

Finsbury said in the pre-close statement that growth looked set to continue despite the economic uncertainty caused by the outcome of the EU referendum.

“Whilst it is too early to fully understand the impact of the exit of Britain from the EU, the board believes that as a strong multi-channel business and a large diversified speciality bakery group, it is well equipped to manage the potential effects of this outcome and continue to deliver growth and improved shareholder value over the coming years,” the business added.

The statement also said that strong trading had continued in the second half and the group was delivering profits in line with market expectations, which were upgraded following the strong first half year.

CEO John Duffy added: “Delivering significant growth across all divisions on a like-for-like basis is a true achievement and we are very pleased to see our sales revenues ahead of the markets we operate in.

“This growth is underpinned by capital investment and our continued focus on innovation, maintaining our position as one of the UK’s largest speciality bakery groups. More than ever we are well placed to continue our solid performance and drive growth.”

Finsbury’s share price rose 2.3% to 118.4p when markets opened this morning but have since settled back down to trade 0.9% below Friday’s close at 114p at the time of writing.

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