Ornua Foods: Pilgrims Choice and Kerrygold maker churns up £500m UK sales

Turnover at the UK division of Ornua Foods, the maker of Pilgrims Choice cheese and Kerrygold butter, surged to more than £500m during its latest financial year.

The Staffordshire-headquartered arm’s sales totalled £523.8m in the year to 30 December, 2023, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.

The figure comes after Ornua Foods reported a turnover of £480.2m for the prior 12 months. Its pre-tax profit remained steady at £11.6m.

Ornua Foods said its turnover rose because of “stable sales volumes and sustainable pricing structures” to “address the continued inflationary pressures impacting the entire supply chain”.

Ornua Foods ‘well positioned’ for the future

A statement signed off by the board said: “The directors are pleased to report a stable financial performance for the year.

“This reflected the business’s commitment to following a clear and consistent strategy focused on driving continuous improvement, delivering best-in-class category expertise and support to customers, strengthening its own-level and branded product portfolio and optimising experience in diary commodities.

“During 2023, the company continued to invest in capital expenditure and marketing.

“This included further investment in industry leading cheese cutting and packing technology at Ornua’s cheese packing facility in Leek, Staffordshire, which further enhanced the company’s packing capacity and capabilities.”

The company’s UK turnover increased from £478.4m to £523.7m in the year but was slashed from £1.8m to £100,000 in the rest of Europe.

During the year the average number of people employed by the division rose from 692 to 715.

On its future, Ornua Foods added: “Market conditions remain significantly pressurised with cost inflation, cost-of-living pressures and geopolitical instability impacting the trading environment.

“Ornua Foods is well positioned to continue to meet the needs of its growing customer base.”

For the same financial year the wider Ornua group, which is headquartered in Dublin, posted a turnover of €3.399bn (£2.865bn) down from €3.422bn (£2.884bn).