A less-than-stellar potato crop has impacted Bradford-based snacks company Seabrook Crisps. In its financial statement for the year to 1 April 2018, the business reported revenues of 330m, up from 324.5m in 2017.
However, its gross profit percentage was down to 41.8% from 47% the previous year and operating profit fell to 11.3% from 14.9% in 2017. The main reason cited for the drop in profits was the poor potato crop throughout 2018.
In its report, Seabrook said: “Issues with the quality of the potato crop affected the majority of 2018, with poorer-than-average yields materially impacting our profitability in the year. Had yields been aligned to historic averages, we would have improved on our 2017 performance. However, given the unexpected and relatively short timeframe over which these issues occurred, we met these costs in full.”
In October, Seabrook Crisps was acquired by Calbee UK, a subsidiary of Japan based Calbee Inc.
