1 minute read
Wholesale
by 55 North
AF BLAKEMORE
Making ‘good progress’
Wholesaler believes it is “well positioned” to navigate the current supply chain challenges.
AF Blakemore has reported a 5% fall in group sales to £1bn for the year ending 24 April 2021 after many of its foodservice and wholesale customers were heavily disrupted by the pandemic.
The company said its pre-tax profits remained in line with the previous year at £6.1m due to “effective cost control and stable margin performance”, while shareholders’ funds and net assets grew from £85.7m to £98.6m.
Chairman Peter Blakemore said: “I am pleased to report that the company made good progress during the period to 24 April 2021, when the business had to meet a full year of unprecedented challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As a result of great customer service and an investment in pricing, we enjoyed good sales across our community-based Spar convenience stores, with consumers shopping more locally, and whilst less frequently, with a higher basket spend.”
AF Blakemore said that despite market volatility, sales in the first quarter of 2021/22 were 12% ahead of the prior year as a result of the “solid retention of convenience store volumes, the strong recoverability of Covid-impacted channels and growth from new customer accounts”.
The year has seen the company launch a 165,000sq ft distribution depot in Bedford that has provided additional supply-chain capacity to better serve customers in London and South East England. The business also expanded its home delivery service across company-owned stores and continued the rollout of its own-brand County Bridge fresh meat range to independent retailers.
In addition, AF Blakemore invested in new online ordering platforms, driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence, for Spar retailers, wholesale distribution customers, and foodservice customers.
Blakemore added: “As a result of our strong sales performance and investment in our infrastructure, I believe that the business is well positioned to navigate the current supply chain challenges and to deliver our growth aspirations.”
