THE Tayto Group generated £207.8 million from the sale of crisps last year, but in a new report, the directors of the snack giant said consumer demand has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with a crisis management team appointed by group bosses.
The latest set of accounts show the group recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.43m for the year ending June 29 2019. But a tax bill of £1.78m left the group with a loss of £356,442 for the financial period.
The year to June 2019 saw Tayto complete a number of acquisitions, including Real Pork Crackling owner CGC (Liverpool) Ltd, which cost the group around £5.6m.
The takeovers helped increase Tayto Group’s total workforce to 1,521 last year.
The report acknowledged the exit of former Tayto chief executive Paul Allen, who officially resigned as a group director in March 2019. It left three directors at the helm: Raymond Hutchinson, Stephen Hutchinson and Anne Hutchinson Kane.
According to the accounts, Tayto Group’s highest paid director received remuneration of £750,000 in 2019, compared with £961,000 in 2018.
Although spanning the 2018-19 period, the accounts were signed off by the group’s directors on April 8 2020, with a clear acknowledgement of the impact of Covid-19.
The snack group bosses said that the underlying market for crisps and snacks was already challenging due to significant competition in the retail sector and continued pressure on consumer spending.
However, as of early April 2020, Tayto said there had been limited impact on labour supply and raw materials prices/supply.
But the directors said a crisis management team had nevertheless been appointed, with plans put in place to ensure a continued supply of raw materials for the manufacturing process.
Despite generating £3.1m for the Tayto group between the takeover date in November 2018 and the end of the financial reporting period, the CGC (Liverpool) Ltd and its subsidiaries recorded a loss after tax of £141,312.
The period also saw the acquisition of hot drinks vendor Drinkmaster for around £107,000. It generated £1.3m in revenue, but made a loss after tax of £37,134 from November 30 2018 to the end of June 2019.
The Tayto Group also generated £290,000 in the year by selling its share in Ape Snacks Ltd.
