Dairy Crest sees strong results

Dairy Crest of the UK has seen strong results for the nine months ended 31 December 2010. Group sales in the first nine months of the year were broadly unchanged from last year after excluding the effect of the disposal of its majority stake in Wexford Creamery Limited.
Added value sales have grown in three areas. Five brands (Cathedral City, Country Life, St Hubert Omega 3, Clover and Frijj) continued to perform well. Third quarter sales of these brands are up 11% compared to last year, leading to value growth for the first nine months of the year of 7%.
Dairy Crest has continued to increase sales of milk to major supermarkets. It has commenced supply of fresh milk to Tesco. Sales volumes to other large retail customers have also remained buoyant. Increased volumes to these customers have been offset by reduced sales to the middle ground milk market, which remains very competitive.
Dairy Crest also reports momentum maintained behind the doorstep delivery internet service milk&more. System improvements implemented in the autumn have increased capacity and improved the website for shoppers. In January 2011, a television advertising campaign began and this has accelerated customer recruitment. Weekly milk&more sales are currently close to