Dairy Crest churns out flat first quarter

19th Jul 2016 07:10

(ShareCast News) - Dairy Crest said first-quarter trading was in line with full year expectations as combined sales volumes of key brands Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Frylight were in line with the same period last year.The FTSE 250 group said the relaunch of Cathedral City with new packaging and branding, supported by a hefty media and promotional campaign, had gone well."The year has started off as we expected. Our branded business continues to perform well," said chief executive Mark Allen in a statement ahead of the annual shareholder meeting.He said the butters, spreads and oils business was progressing well, with both Clover and Country Life building on the momentum from the second half of last year, while Frylight sales were also growing strongly."At the same time, we are seeing the benefits of our investment in infant formula ingredients with improved operational efficiencies at our demineralised whey and GOS production facilities. We are successfully building the customer base for both products in partnership with Fonterra."