March 24, 2005

UK's Dairy Crest sees profitable year

UK dairy products maker Dairy Crest said today that profit for the year ending March 31, 2005 would be in line with market expectations.

"Despite an extremely competitive environment, this has been another solid year of trading for Dairy Crest and we expect results to be in line with expectations," said CEO Drummond Hall. "Strong cash generation and investment in brands have continued to be important features of this performance."

The spreads business has continued to make good progress and key brands -Clover, Utterly Butterly, St Ivel Gold and Country Life - have all delivered sales growth year on year, Dairy Crest said. In particular, Country Life, which Dairy Crest now has full ownership of, has performed particularly well showing strong volume and value growth.