Kipling cakes and Oxo food maker to raise prices after posting robust sales

Premier Foods, a major British food manufacturer and maker of Kipling cakes and Oxo cubes, reported a rise in first-quarter sales on robust demand for its cakes and grocery products and said it was raising product prices to mitigate the impact of higher costs.

"We have made good progress in recovering our input cost inflation through a range of measures, including cost efficiencies and pricing, and we continue to monitor the situation closely," chief executive Alex Whitehouse said.

Grocery sectors in  Britain and Ireland have come under pressure from a cost-of-living crisis and supply disruptions from the war in Ukraine, as surging prices have caused the biggest squeeze on household incomes for decades. 

The maker of Mr Kipling cakes and Oxo cubes had warned in May that it would be affected by rising prices of commodities as well as surging energy prices and the slowing UK economy. 

Premier Foods said its sales during the three months to July 2 rose 6% compared to the prior year, and that it expects to deliver full-year earnings in line with its estimates. 

British and Irish inflation was running at 9.4% and 9.1%, respectively. British grocery inflation hit 9.9% in the four weeks to July 10, adding £454 (€532) to annual bills there, market researcher Kantar said earlier this week. 

Reuters