Plymouth-headquartered Burts Snacks Ltd has shifted £57.3m of crisps in a year and become the 海角视频’s fastest growing independent “snacking” company - despite the Covid pandemic.
The firm, with factories in Plymouth and Leicester, saw sales jump by more than £7m in 2020, from £51m in 2019, newly filed accounts show.
This led to an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), a measure of profitability, of £2.6m for 2020 - up from £1m in 2019.
Burts Snacks in the news
The crisp and popcorn maker, which employs more than 360 people at its sites in Plymouth and Leicester, suffered a blow to sales in the hospitality sector when pubs, bars, delis, restaurants and cafes were forced to close during three lockdowns.
But the newly filed report said that the company was able to bounce back because its products and distribution channels gave it a level of resilience that protected the financial performance. It has important supermarket contracts, and invested heavily in both its plants during the lockdown.
However, the group’s newly released annual report and financial statements for 2020, reveal £10.4m of administrative expenses ate into profits and resulted in an overall pre-tax loss of £1.77m.
Nevertheless, the company is in confident mood and its report said it sees “significant opportunities in our domestic market” and it has an “ambitious plan” to cash in on the staycation boom in its “brand heartland of the South West”. The company is also looking at new foreign markets and at ways to increase its output.
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The report said: “We are currently considering a number of opportunities that will allow us to increase our industrial capabilities, extend our customer base and increase our focus on wider environmental, social and governance initiatives to grow our top line contribution, improve efficiencies in our cost base and drive our overall enterprise value.”
It added: “We consider that the snacking market will continue to be highly competitive in 2021 but our quality, ability to innovate will help to drive our brand presence. In addition, we are developing a number of new export markets and we see this as a key pillar in our overall strategy.”
In June 2021, Burts secured a region-wide listing with supermarket giant Tesco, which meant three flavours Burts’ crisps being sold in more than 60 stores across the West Country – from Yeovil to Ilfracombe and Gloucester to Helston.
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Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
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Burts began life in 1995 with Richard Thomas Burt and his wife Linda travelling across Devon and Cornwall to farm shops, delis and pubs to sell their potato chips which are made from local ingredients.
Since Burts’ modest beginnings in Kingsbridge, the company quickly expanded and in 2006 moved into premises at Belliver Way, in Roborough, on the edge of Plymouth, where today it employs more than 200 people. The business has been a winner at the Made in the South West, Taste of the West, the Vending Industry Awards, the Healthy Food and Drink Awards and the Plymouth Live Business Awards.