Fresca Group have published a robust result for fiscal year 2023-2024, reporting a 3rd consecutive year of solid sales growth, increasing Group sales to £523 million.
Group CEO, Martyn Fletcher said "It's been an exciting year, during which we have continued to expand our growing businesses and joint ventures, invested further in protected crops and introduced further quality and automation technologies."
In October 2023, Fresca Group increased its stake in the ownership of Thanet Earth by acquiring the shares owned by one of the joint venture partners, Rainbow Growers Group UK, meaning Fresca now owns 100% of Thanet Earth Peppers.
Reflecting on the result, Fletcher said "Clearly this acquisition has a material impact on our result this year. Whilst overall we are reporting an increase in group sales of 25%, our like-for-like sales growth, excluding the acquisition, is still a healthy 3%. Also EBITDA grew from £12.9m last year to £13.4m as a result of continued close management of costs."
Other activities of particular note include the £3million investment in a new Avocado Centre of Excellence for The Avocado Company – both increasing capacity and introducing new state-of-the-art ripening facilities, yielding a better-quality product whilst lowering its overall environmental impact.
Furthermore, Thanet Earth made a strategic move into the production of leafy salads through the purchase of an 8.25-acre nursery located in Chichester which, when re-developed, will have the capacity to produce leaf products under 27,000 sq. meters of glass, across 12 months of the year.
In 2024, Fresca is celebrating its 150th trading anniversary. Fletcher paid tribute to the company's Chairman, Chris Mack, who recently celebrated his 45th year with the group. "Our business has been led by 4 generations of the Mack family. Our success in business is testament to the family legacy and values that were created 150 years ago, embedded over that time, and continue to run deep throughout our business today. Chris has been fundamental to the success of Fresca, and his attitude to doing the right thing is rooted in our mission statement – Doing business the right way – ethically and sustainably, for our people, partners, products and the planet."
On his outlook for the current trading year, Fletcher concluded "All businesses have faced an unprecedented number of challenges over recent years, and we anticipate more of the same such as climate change, geo-political issues and new government legislations. Nevertheless, it is our job to manage change in all of its forms, which together with our committed colleagues, we've demonstrated our ability to do over the last 150 years, delivering great quality produce and service to our customers."
For more information:
Nikki Churchill
Fresca Group
Tel: +44 07764 959483
Email: n[email protected]
www.frescagroup.co.uk