Dairy Crest is issuing the following Interim Management Statement for the 3 months ended 30 June 2016 ahead of its Annual General Meeting which will be held later today.

Trading performance

Trading in the first quarter has been in line with our expectations. Combined sales volumes of Dairy Crest’s four key brands (Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Frylight) are in line with the same period last year. The outlook for the full year remains unchanged.

Mark Allen, Chief Executive, commented:

“The year has started off as we expected. Our branded business continues to perform well. In cheese, we have successfully re-launched Cathedral City, the nation’s favourite cheese, with new packaging and branding. This has been supported with a wide-reaching media and promotional campaign.

Our butters, spreads and oils business is progressing well. Clover and Country Life have both built on the momentum from the second half of last year. Frylight sales are also growing strongly.

At the same time, we are seeing the benefits of our investment in infant formula ingredients with improved operational efficiencies at our demineralised whey and GOS production facilities. We are successfully building the customer base for both products in partnership with Fonterra.

This Summer, we celebrate our 20th year as a listed company. In this time, the company has evolved from a supply-driven commoditised business to a lean, branded and added value business. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in Dairy Crest over the last 20 years for their hard work and commitment to the company.”

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Dairy Crest’s Annual General Meeting will be held today at 3.30pm at the offices of Eversheds LLP, 1 Wood Street, London EC2V 7WS.

Dairy Crest expects to issue its half-yearly trading update on 19 September 2016 and its Interim Results for the six months ending 30 September 2016 on 10 November 2016.

For further information:

Dairy Crest
Olivia Seccombe External Affairs 07872 808875
Alistair Smith Investor Relations 07740 534910

Brunswick
Mike Smith / Max McGahan 020 7404 5959