Potato chips giant McCain doubles profit to nearly £100m in just three years

The UK division of potato giant McCain Foods has seen its profits soar to nearly £100m in its most recent financial year.

The North Yorkshire-based UK branch of the Canadian behemoth reported a pre-tax profit of £98.7m for the 12 months ending on 30 June, 2024, as reported by City AM.

This figure, disclosed in new accounts submitted to Companies House, is an increase from the previous year's pre-tax profit of £77.3m. This latest total indicates that McCain has almost doubled its pre-tax profit since June 2021.

The newly released results also reveal that the company's revenue leapt from £712.5m to £799.1m during the same period.

While McCain's UK revenue increased from £692.4m to £781.1m over the year, sales in the rest of Europe fell from £18.6m to £15.6m.

However, in other parts of the world, revenue rose from £1.5m to £2.2m. A statement approved by the board read: "The business had to manage multiple challenges across the supply chain impacting costs and supply."

It added: "Farmers faced weather-related challenges throughout the season due to wet weather as well as increased pressure from rising input costs including fuel and fertilisers."

Despite these obstacles, the statement noted that sales growth was positive in both retail and food service sectors, and the business continued to support long-term agricultural sustainability through higher contract pricing in line with indexation and supplementing high energy costs for storage growers.

"The company continued to make significant investments throughout the year in both capital, including the renewal of the Scarborough facility, and the brand, including media advertising."

On its future strategy, McCain commented: "As a brand leader, the company believes it can continue to stimulate growth in a planet-friendly way, through innovation, quality and service and continues to invest in capacity to support this growth."

"The company has a crisis management plan in place to respond to risks, including Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine crisis."

An interim dividend of £8m was addressed for the fiscal year ending 30 June, 2024, but the board has not proposed a final dividend.