Bernard Matthews posts a ‘bootiful’ return to the black

By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on 24/12/2012 00:00

TURKEY producer Bernard Matthews has flown back into profit after Britons rediscovered their taste for the meat and there was no repeat of last year’s writedowns at its Hungarian business.

The Norwich-based company posted a pre-tax profit of £2 million for the year to 1 July, compared with a loss of £28.8m for the previous 18 months, which included a £16m writedown on the value of the assets held by its Saga Foods subsidiary in Hungary.

Revenues at the family-owned firm stood at £341.4m, following a 4.4 per cent increase in the amount of turkey eaten in the UK. The figure compared with £470.8m for the 18 months to 3 July 2011, according to accounts filed at Companies House.

Writing in the directors’ report, company secretary Yvonne Goldingham said: “The UK business performance was particularly heartening following a difficult prior period.”

Bernard Matthews set up his eponymous turkey farming business in 1950 and coined the phrase “bootiful” for television advertisements during the 1980s. He died in 2010 at the age of 80.