Food giant enjoys €1.9bn sales

Sales of Hula-Hoops, Jaffa Cakes and other products made by United Biscuits reached £1.3bn (€1.9bn) in the last year, it emerged today.

The figure represents a 3.1% increase on 2001 at constant exchange rates and was a strong performance, chief executive Malcolm Ritchie said.

United, which employs 11,000 people, have brands including KP snacks and McVitie’s.

Today’s sales figure covers all of Europe and is primarily made up of branded product sales, which rose 3.8% to £1.1bn (€1.6bn) in 2000.

Among the most popular were McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes.