2016	2015	Change
Revenue 1	£422.3m	£448.2m	-6%
Profit before tax 1	£45.4m	£36.8m	+23%
Adjusted profit before tax1,2	£57.7m	£58.8m	-2%
Basic earnings per share 1	27.9p	21.5p	+30%
Adjusted basic earnings per share 1, 2	34.5p	34.3p	+1%
(Loss)/profit attributable to equity shareholders	£(113.0)m	£20.5m	n/a
Cash generated from operations: continuing 1	£82.9m	£56.8m	+46%
Cash generated from operations	£31.3m	£35.3m	-11%
Net debt	£229.0m	£198.7m	+15%
Final dividend	16.0p	15.7p	+2%

_{1 From continuing operations}

_{2 Before exceptional items, amortisation of acquired intangibles and pension interest}

Highlights

• Combined volumes of four key brands up 2%
• Cathedral City grows revenue and volumes in a period of continuing, significant price deflation
• Improved Clover and Country Life performance in the second half of the year; Frylight continues to grow strongly
• Profit margins from continuing operations maintained after a strong second half of the year
• Production and sales of demineralised whey and galacto-oligosaccharide have commenced
• Transformational sale of Dairies business completed on 26 December 2015
• Strong underlying cash generation from the continuing business
• Proposed final dividend up 1.9% to 16.0 pence

Commenting on the results, Mark Allen, Chief Executive, Dairy Crest Group plc said:

“This is an exciting time to be leading Dairy Crest. Although we expect food price deflation to persist in the short term, the business is well positioned to deliver profitable and sustainable growth.

We are making progress with all of our four key brands and the continued investment we are putting behind them this year gives me confidence that we can continue to grow their market share.

The other focus for 2016/17 will be on accelerating sales of demineralised whey and GOS, the new infant formula ingredients and continuing to explore further applications for GOS.

Future cash generation will improve as the sale of our Dairies business and completion of the investment at Davidstow removes a significant drain on cash”

Read the full statement here.

For further information, please contact:

Dairy Crest
Olivia Seccombe
01372 472249

Dairy Crest
Tom Atherton
01372 472264

Brunswick
Mike Smith
0207 404 5959

A video interview with Mark Allen and Tom Atherton is available from the investor section of the Group’s website www.dairycrest.co.uk/investors.

There will be an analyst and investor meeting at 11:00 (UK time) today at The Lincoln Centre, 18 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3ED, following which an audiocast of the presentation will be available from the investor section of the Group’s website www.dairycrest.co.uk/investors.