Thursday, January 22, 2015

Quorn goes stateside to achieve strongest year yet


Quorn Foods has achieved its strongest ever growth in 2014 - due to soaring US sales.


The Stokesley-based manufacturer of meat-alternative foods attracting almost two million more customers than the previous year and saw a 7% growth in total sales - at a time when most manufacturers are seeing flat sales.


Last year the company, which employs around announced it was investing £30m to double capacity at its Billingham production site - creating up to 400 new jobs. Quorn’s core ingredient is Mycoprotein, a naturally occurring fungus similar to a truffle.


Quorn is now planning to expand into at least one new international market in 2015 as it builds on its current momentum, in line with ambitions to become a $1bn dollar business within ten years.


Like-for-like sales in the US were up 25%, rising to 48% in the final quarter, and the company has seen a surge in sales in all the 15 countries it directly supplies as more non-vegetarians than ever before (75%) are buying its products.


Much of the growth, the company claims, is down to a dedicated stateside team at the beginning of 2014 to improve access to the major distributors. Quorn ended the year with 30% more distribution than it started with. After an initial trial with Wal-Mart, the company has now quadrupled its distribution with the retail giant to the point where its products are now available in 2,300 stores across the country. The company has also seen double-digit distribution growth over the last 12 months in other major US retailers, including Kroger and Meijer.


Quorn now expects its US business to grow by 30% annually.


In the last year the company:


* Grew UK sales by 10%, with each quarter outperforming the last throughout the year showing sustained momentum.


* Achieved a record year for sales in Germany, with a like-for-like increase of 49.5%, and a 8.4% increase in like-for-like sales in Switzerland


* Sustained strong growth in the Nordics for the third year running, with sales volumes increasing by 5.5% over 2014


Exports now account for 19% of Quorn’s overall revenue.


Chief executive Kevin Brennan said: “2014 was the year when we really started to realise Quorn’s potential for growth all over the world. For the first time in the company’s history, we achieved sales of over £150m, with sustained growth in all of the 15 countries we directly export to.


“What’s more, an increasing number of carnivores are buying into our brand with non-vegetarians now accounting for three-quarters of our customer base.


“Over the last two years we’ve seen sales grow in the UK by 20% and we expect to sustain this momentum as people rethink their meat eating habits and explore healthy and sustainable protein alternatives such as Quorn.


“Clearly the US is a market that offers massive potential for growth and, on the back of an extremely positive 2014 which culminated in like-for-like sales growth of 88% in December, we’re aiming to create a stateside operation four times its current size by 2019.


“Following successful launches in Germany, Finland and Denmark last year, we’re also looking to expand as we strive to create a $1bn business, four to five times its current size. After last year, we really are generating momentum towards this goal.”


The company is also continuing to invest millions of pounds into new product development, to ‘meet the needs and tastes of a global audience’.



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