Global bakery giant Baker & Baker says it grew gross profits and continued to invest in its manufacturing sites despite a year of rising costs.
The Wirral-based business said revenues grew “slightly” in 2024 to €623.5m (£539m) while gross profit grew 7.5% to €90.1m (£77.9m).
The company – which employs 1,300 people across its four Ƶ sites – saw a 3.7% decline in product volumes during the year “due to rising raw material costs and other inflationary effects”. But it said: “this was offset by gross profit growth driven by a positive shift in product mix and effective measures to improve efficiency in the group’s operations”.
Baker & Baker was launched in 2021 as the successor to CSM Bakery Solutions, after the sale of the sister CSM Ingredients business, and has seen continued profit growth since then.
Over 2024 it invested some €14m (£12.1m) in its 12 manufacturing sites across Europe. In the Ƶ it invested in a new chocolate system at its Bradford site which allowed it to launch three products in continental Europe – a Milka chocolate cluster, Milka cookies and a Milka chocolate topped brownie. Baker & Baker said: “This product range has already seen strong initial growth in France during the first half of 2025”.
Last year the company announced it had invested £2.9m in its “American Bakery-style cookie” lines at its Ƶ headquarters in Bromborough, Wirral, to increase capacity. The company employs 650 people in Wirral. T also has sites at Daventry and at Ashington in the North East.
Also last year the company invested in the doughnut production lines at its Delmenhorst site in Germany, and moved its German HQ to a new base in Bremen.
New product launches in 2024 included the first fresh bakery products under the Côte d’Or brand, building on the group’s licensing partnership with Mondelez. Côte d’Or muffins and doughnuts were launched in Benelux in late 2024. The group has also grown its customer base in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern markets.
Matthew Acheson, CEO, said: “Baker & Baker remains a clear leader in the American Sweet Bakery category in Europe, and our customers trust our expertise and market insight to drive sales across the retail and food service channels.
“We are pleased to have delivered another year of solid financial performance across the Group, despite facing a series of geopolitical headwinds and fluctuating consumer confidence.
“2024 saw continued inflation throughout the bakery industry, most notably in the price of cocoa, which has affected many bakery categories. We have worked closely with our customers to manage these turbulent inflationary effects.
“A series of strategic investments in our manufacturing capabilities have also delivered efficiencies and allowed us to expand our product capabilities for customers.”
