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Gloucestershire Business News

Strong cheese sales helps dairy firm sniff out growth

A major dairy business and producer of one of the nation's most popular cheeses expects a bigger slice of revenue and profits than expected at the end of the first half of its financial year.

Dairy Crest, which produces the shoppers' favourite Cathedral City and Clover - and has a major base at Stonehouse in Gloucestershire - said its cheese brands were its key growth drivers.

Cathedral City, it said, continued to go from strength to strength and was recently voted one of the top 10 brands by UK consumers in YouGov's Annual Brand Health Rankings.

Its Clover spread is also expected to "deliver both volume and revenue growth", continuing the positive performance from last year.

One area in which it failed to gain traction was with oil product Frylight. Sales are expected to be down, which the company blames on the unusually hot weather this year cutting the demand for cooking oils.

Mark Allen, chief executive, said: "Our Cathedral City and Clover brands continue to drive the business forward, supported by an exciting pipeline of new product developments.

"For Cathedral City to be named one of the UK's top ten brands by consumers, alongside John Lewis, Amazon and Ikea, is testament to the power of the UK's favourite cheese brand, and we see good growth potential in the UK and beyond.

"Our balance sheet is in good shape and we are moving forward with the first phase of the expansion at Davidstow. Our expectations for the full year remain unchanged."

Dairy Crest expects profit for the half year to be slightly ahead of the same period last year. Its expectations for the full year remain unchanged.

Following the equity issuance in May 2018, net debt "will be significantly lower at the end of September 2018 compared to the same period last year", said the company.

Dairy Crest processes 500 million litres of milk a year at its Oldends Lane facility in Gloucestershire where it also manufactures cream and FRijj fresh milk drink.

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