A BUMPER Christmas for relaunched cake brand Mr Kipling helped boost the outlook for owner Premier Foods after a challenging autumn.
The company, whose other brands include Oxo, Bisto and Sharwood’s, said sales of its frontline brands were 3.5 per cent lower in the quarter to December 31, compared with a decline of 5.1 per cent in the previous quarter.
Premier Foods said its market share in December was the highest it has been for the last four years, driven by improved sales of Mr Kipling after a relaunch earlier in the year.
The company’s largest brand achieved its best market share in over a year after sales jumped 28 per cent on a year earlier in December, having sold more cakes in the two weeks before Christmas than at any other time in the previous two years.
The company expects Mr Kipling to benefit from further television advertising in the coming quarter while plans to more than double the current capacity of its snack pack production line are on track.
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