Food firm calls for British support

The boss of the UK’s biggest food producer today called for Britons to support the economic recovery by buying British brands.

Michael Clarke, chief executive of Premier Foods – which owns Batchelors, Hovis and Mr Kipling – said the Queen’s diamond jubilee and London Olympics should be celebrated by supporting British jobs and buying products made in the UK.

Premier – which also owns Ambrosia, Bisto and Loyd Grossman – sources 80 per cent of its ingredients from Britain and will launch Mr Kipling “British Fancies” and “Mini Classics” to build on this theme.

South African-born Clarke made his comments as Premier unveiled a 3.7 per cent rise in sales of its eight leading brands, which also include Oxo and Sharwoods, in the three months to 31 March, compared to a 1.3 per cent rise in total group sales.

Clarke said during his time working for Reebok in Asia he was “amazed” by how nationalistic people became during a period of financial crisis.

He went on: “I’m surprised British people are not as nationalistic as they could be to protect jobs. If you look at our competitors they ship from overseas. That’s fine. But I’m going to continue to bang this drum.”

He added: “We should support British jobs, British supply chains and British farmers, as oppose to celebrating an event but you’re out of a job because products come outside of the UK.”

Clarke said the only ingredients and resources Premier buys from outside the UK are cocoa, fuel and sugar.

The group’s focus on its “power brands” drove market share gains for the products for the first time in 12 months, Premier said.

Support brands – all branded products outside the power eight, such as Branston Pickle and Homepride sauces – saw sales fall 0.5 per cent.

Branded grocery products did well in the quarter, driven by strong sales of Sharwood’s new “Wrap Kits” and the Batchelors “Fuelling Britain” promotion, in which consumers can win free fuel for a year.

The Hovis bread business saw a 3.1 per cent increase in sales, driven in particular by non-branded products.

Premier was pushed to a full-year loss in 2011 by a dismal performance in its bread division, which saw trading profits slump 90.4 per cent last year, leading it to slash the value of the bread arm by £282 million.

Premier last month landed a crucial deal to renew more than £1 billion of loans with its banks – including part-nationalised lenders Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland – which will see its repayment deadline extended from December 2013 to June 2016.

Shares in Premier rose by more than 2 per cent after the trading update was published.

Martin Deboo, analyst at brokers Investec, described the update as reassuring, with a return to positive sales growth and trading in line with expectations.