Yeo Valley doubles profit after natural yoghurt demand surges
Profit at Yeo Valley has almost doubled after sales at the dairy giant jumped by £40m during its latest financial year.
The Somerset-headquartered business has reported a pre-tax profit of £8.1m for the year to 26 May, 2024, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.
The latest figure comes after Yeo Valley returned to the black in its prior 12 months with a pre-tax profit of £4.1m.
The results also show that group’s turnover increased from £315.9m to £365m over the financial year.
But despite the surge in pre-tax profit, the company’s margin of 2.2 per cent was below its five per cent target.
In the UK, Yeo Valley’s turnover increased from £315.1m to £364.3m and from £436,000 to £461,000 in the rest of Europe.
However, its sales in the rest of the world dipped from £298,000 to £235,000.
During the year the average number of people employed by Yeo Valley increased from 1,520 to 1,600.
‘There is more growth to come’
A statement signed off by the board said: “We are delighted that the last 12 months saw Yeo Valley continue its recovery from the challenges of Covid, labour shortages and high inflation.
“This recovery has been driven by a growth in demand for products across our portfolio.
“In these straightened times, consumers are seeking out high quality, affordable food that is good for them.
“This has resulted, in particular, in a significant increase in our natural yoghurt volumes.
“We are very proud of the quality of the products we make and the inherent health benefits of great dairy.
“The investments we have made in automation have also helped to ensure that we can provide our customers and consumers great products at excellent value.
“With the ongoing support of our amazing farming partners and our retail customers, we have been able to successfully respond to the growth in our business.
“Excitingly there is also more growth to come”.
Yeo Valley launch ‘large investment program’
Yeo Valley added: “The immediate outlook shows continued growth for our products and, as such, we have embarked on a large investment program to increase our capacity.
“Our yoghurt investment programme will ensure that we have the scale and automation necessary to grow with our customers and continue to offer them great value products.
“We will also continue to increase our investments in growing the Yeo Valley organic brand with additional shopper acts action and product innovation.
“Finally, we will continue to grow our dedicated farmer pools to ensure that all of our dairy ingredients come from the best possible farming systems that support climate, nature and animal welfare at all times”.