Profits at Symington’s have more than tripled as the Mug Shot and Chicken Tonight supplier pushed up prices to offset input cost inflation.
Alongside the latest accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023, filings at Companies House also showed CEO Christian Boulter is no longer a director at the company.
Boulter was promoted from sales director in 2022 following the £53m takeover by Newlat Food, which this week concluded a £700m deal for Princes.
A spokesman for Newlat declined to give any details on whether Boulter had left Symington’s or if a successor had been named. “We are not in the position to disclose anything on this at the moment,” he said.
Revenues at Symington’s in the second full year of Newlat’s ownership increased 6% to £124.6m after tumbling 14% in 2022 to £117.1m as the supplier exited less profitable businesses to boost margins.
Pre-tax profits in 2023 jumped from £507k to £1.7m as the group kept a close control over costs, while the previous year was also impacted by one-off charges of almost £1m for restructuring and redundancy costs.
EBITDA, which had been as high as £9.6m in 2020 following a turnaround, nudged up from £6.1m to £6.2m.
Newlat CEO Giuseppe Mastrolia, who signed off the Symington’s accounts, wrote in the director’s report that the business had been “very resilient” in overcoming a challenging year of unprecedented raw material price inflation.
Newlat’s spokesman added: “Revenues of Symington’s have been driven by the pass through of inflation, with several price increase plans implemented during the year.
“We also started a new programme on procurement that is allowing us to get material benefits. In Q1 of 2024, despite the weak top line due to a challenging comparison base and some promotional activities, profitability is improving thanks to more operational efficiency and the procurement savings.”
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