The family-owned Northamptonshire business behind an animal food brand that can trace its roots back to the 1930s and is sold all over the world has said it is satisfied with its latest results despite a slip in turnover.
FW Baker, which owns the Butcher's dog and cat food brand, has posted reduced revenues of £88m for the year to 31 July 2017 compared to £90.2m in 2016.Pre-tax profits dropped from £10.9m to £7.5m, but chairman Graham Baker said the management expected a plateau in results after ten years of revenue growth.The company has also said it is set to invest £3.8m its production facility in 2018.
In a statement released with the accounts, Baker said: "Butcher's Pet Care is in the second year of a three-year strategic investment programme with focus on three key areas; brand equity, people and infrastructure. The shareholders and the directors of the business accept that earnings will fall in the short term for long-term sustainable business growth. For ten successive years, revenue grew from £36.5m in 2005 to £92.7m in 2015 with a corresponding EBITDA increase from £1.8m to £9.6m."In anticipation of a plateauing of performance, the three-year strategic investment programme started in 2016 and correspondingly saw revenue decline. I am therefore pleased we have already commenced the investment programme and anticipate that this dip will continue into 2018 with a return to growth expected beyond this."
Butcher's is sold in UK shops such as Waitrose, Pets at Home and Sainsburys.
