Fish helps push up Birds Eye owner's sales and profits

IGLO, owners of Birds Eye frozen foods in Britain and famous for its fish fingers, has announced that its net sales were up by 2.7 per cent in the third quarter of this year with a rise in EBITDA of  9.7 per cent year-on-year.
The European-wide group said it managed to achieve this growth despite the ‘tough’ market conditions that continue to impact the sector with consumer spending under pressure across all European markets. Fish forms a major part of Birds Eye’s extensive product range.
Iglo chief executive, Elio Leoni Sceti, said: ‘Against this background, Iglo has delivered value share growth in 8 out of 11 markets.
‘We have invested in our new campaign to support not only the core but also to drive the launch of our new innovations’.
Despite the decline in the frozen product market, Iglo deems it ‘encouraging’ that its Italian business has recorded a 12th successive month of net sales growth and a value share rise of 0.4 per cent in Q3 as a whole.
Several new product launches – which included seafood – in Britain and Italy, had been successful.
Mr Sceti added: ‘While we expect markets in the final quarter of the year to remain challenging, we are confident that our Better Meals Together strategy will drive consumer interest in the frozen food category as we invest in the strength of our brand.’
He said the launch of innovative products in the Seafood and Pyramid Meals categories in Italy has been successful.
In addition, the Inspirations platform launched in the second quarter under the Birds Eye brand continued to gain momentum with net sales of the newly launched products under that range of nearly EUR 6 million in Q3 and EUR 13 million in the year to date.
Among the key products launched in the quarter has been the new Steamfresh platform in the UK and Austrian markets, which combines strong existing ranges.