Wholesale business Kitwave has announced growth in revenues and profit during what it described as a year of “delivering investment and driving growth”.
The North Shields-based firm, which listed on the London Stock Exchange four years ago, has released final results for the year ending October 31 in which revenues increased by 10.2% to £663.7m. The company’s operating profit fell slightly over that period to £28.8m.
The year saw Kitwave, which has grown from a single cash-and-carry on Tyneside through a series of acquisitions, complete three more deals to see its headcount pass the 2,000-mark. It also highlighted further investment in automation technology and the use of voice-picking technology in its depots, as well as the completion of a significant new distribution centre in the south west of England.
Kitwave said that it would continue to look at acquisition opportunities to grow its business and added that the current financial year had started well. The company has previously noted that Government changes to National Insurance and the minimum wage would around £2m to its costs but that it was confident it would be able to absorb that with efficiencies and other cost savings.
Chief executive Ben Maxted said: “Kitwave has delivered another strong full-year performance. We have met full-year market expectations, achieved organic growth and expanded our operations, particularly in our foodservice division.
“The group had a clear plan for FY24 to invest for growth in three key areas: IT, delivery infrastructure and strategic M&A opportunities. The successful execution of this plan saw new warehouse technology enhancing operational efficiencies, a new state-of-the-art storage and delivery facility in the South West and three acquisitions completed, which have significantly increased the scale of the group’s Ƶ network.
“Importantly, the group continued to deliver growth and maintain its high levels of customer service, resulting in achieving over 98% satisfaction in customer service excellence levels. This is testament to our operations model and the commitment of our team.
“Looking ahead, the group has started the new financial year well, and the board is already working towards its goals for FY25. We believe this will generate value for our stakeholders, and we would like to thank all our people for another successful year.”
