NORTHERN Foods yesterday said revenues at its Fox's bakery division jumped by 6.7 per cent after an advertising campaign became an online hit.
The group's cartoon character Vinnie – a cross between a panda and a dog – was introduced last April as part of a relaunch for the Fox's biscuit brand.
And Northern yesterday claimed that the campaign was so successful that it was now planning a s
econd series of Vinnie ads to further boost the brand in the run-up to Christmas.
Northern – which makes Goodfella's pizza and supplies products to Marks & Spencer – moved to reassure the markets over its performance yesterday ahead of its interim results, stating that it was continuing to recover soaring input costs through price increases.
It has raised its selling prices by 5.6 per cent on average, which had offset a 1.7 per cent drop in sales volumes.
The increasing popularity of its Fox's brand is helping lead a recovery within Northern's bakery division, with the underlying sales rise cementing a return to sales growth over the past year.
However, the group, which supplies all of the major UK supermarkets, said it had seen total sales volumes slip as it pulled out of "marginal" contracts over the past financial year, although it continued to see growth in branded and own-label business.
Total underlying sales rose 3.9 per cent year on-year in the 26 weeks to 27 September.
Leeds-based Northern Foods has been refocusing on faster-growing markets and key brands, last year selling off some operations.
It said interim underlying revenues in its chilled operation grew by 2.4 per cent, driven by the ready meals business.
Northern's frozen food division, which includes Goodfella's pizza, notched up a 4.1 per cent rise in sales on a comparable basis in the period.
But poor summer weather hit sales of salads, sandwiches and chilled pizzas, with underlying sales ahead by a more muted 1 per cent.
Northern stressed that profits were set to be weighted towards the second half, with an expected winter and Christmas sales boost for products such as soups and puddings.
Stefan Barden, chief executive of Northern, said the group was making headway despite the "challenging environment" of rocketing input costs.
Northern has been battling against soaring input costs, as has the rest of the food sector.
It said in its previous trading update that full-year commodity costs were expected to increase by about £20 million, together with a £12m increase in its utilities bill.
Northern's shares initially opened higher yesterday on the reassurances over its moves to recover costs, but later fell as analysts looked to a potentially difficult second half.
Carluccio's has 21% sales rise on the menuITALIAN food and restaurant chain Carluccio's has overcame economic turmoil to report a 21 per cent increase in full-year sales.
The restaurant group's shares rose by almost 6 per cent after it described trading over the summer as satisfactory and said it expected to meet market expectations for the year to 28 September.
Six new sites were opened during the period, meeting the company's minimum target for annual openings. The programme for 2009 is weighted towards the first quarter of the financial year, meaning most of the pre-opening costs will be felt in the 2008 financial year.
Restaurants have recently opened at Stratford-upon-Avon, Manchester, Dublin, Heathrow Terminal 5, St Pancras International train terminal, Cambridge and Leicester. It now has 39 UK locations.
The full article contains 587 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
