We have published our accounts for our financial year ending May 2023, showing an increase in turnover to over £1.5bn but reporting an overall loss of £12.8m after taxation, an improvement of £3.3m in the May 2022 result. Financial performance reflected a continuing tough trading climate with new inflation driving costs higher and further depressing underlying demand.
Commenting on the results, Andy Dawkins Avara CEO stated, “Given the anticipated prevailing economic and market conditions, financial performance for the period is in line with expectations. Avara’s higher turnover has arisen from the inflationary pressure that has been well documented over the period, but this significant rise does not fully offset the total increase in production costs, resulting in an overall loss after taxation.”
The cost-of-living crisis has led to more cautious purchasing behaviour by consumers, leading to short term over-supply in the market. This, alongside wider market challenges, has driven a change in approach, with business reorganisation necessary to meet a structural change in the market. In response, we have adopted a pragmatic and flexible approach, focusing on the fundamentals of an optimised supply chain, that is able to better offset inflationary pressures through productivity, efficiency and dependable customer service.
The turnaround strategy is focused on fewer, but better invested, facilities; optimising their processing footprint to drive efficiency and productivity. Dawkins added “The proposed streamlining of Avara operational footprint requires difficult decisions but, thanks to a solid financial position with no bank borrowing, it has the financial resilience to take a deliberate approach, with difficult decisions managed sensitively and fairly.” The restructure is due to complete within the 2023/24 financial year.
In a year of turbulence and change, our commitment to being an ethical and responsible business, underpinned by our core values, remained constant. We’ve cemented our position at the forefront of the sector with our continued progress on our sustainability objectives. We have completed full assessments of the potential impact of climate change on our business for TCFD reporting and established a detailed understanding of our own (Scope 1 and 2) carbon emissions, as well as those of our wider supply chain (Scope 3). Now two years after first setting Science-based Targets, we are reducing carbon emissions ahead of target and were the first business in its sector to join the product-level carbon foot- printing project, led by the BRC – Mondra consortium, working with our major supermarket partners.
Dawkins summarised “We have worked hard with our customers to navigate the balance of covering costs while maintaining an affordable product for consumers. In the face of almost unprecedented inflation, it is perhaps unsurprising that not all costs have been recouped. Looking ahead our focus is in three areas: ensuring that our business completes its streamlining and optimisation plan to provide customers with great quality and value, while mitigating the impact of inflation; investing in growth in our successful added value product ranges with our partner customers, and meeting our commitments to be a responsible business, helping those same customers fulfil our shared climate goals.”
In the year ahead we anticipate that conditions will remain difficult, but are confident that our plans will yield benefits.
“We’re very confident that fresh poultry will remain a staple in shopping baskets and that demand will remain strong. The actions that we have started to put in place will put us in a stronger position financially and able to meet demand for our increasingly popular portfolio of products.”