Maggie Beer Holdings has reported strong growth in Q1 FY21 driven by a 237 per cent increase in Maggie Beer Products e-commerce sales and all business units returning positive trading EBITDA.
Snapshot - Q1 FY21 versus Q1 FY20
- 19.2 per cent group net sales growth;
- all businesses retuning positive trading earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA);
- group’s trading EBITDA improving by 244 per cent ($1.6 million);
- Maggie Beer Products e-commerce sales growth - 237 per cent;
- Maggie Beer Products - 24 per cent net sales growth;
- Paris Creek Farms - 18 per cent net sales growth;
- Saint David Dairy - 5 per cent net sales growth;
- Operating cash position improved by $1.67 million; and
- Maggie Beer to remain a director on the board.
In the group’s FY20 annual report, CEO Chantalle Miller said the disappointing FY19 results were the catalyst for a turnaround strategy that has so far delivered $3.9 million in savings. A restructure of Paris Creek Farms, corporate staff and efficiencies at Maggie Beer Products and Saint David Dairy were undertaken and shared distribution, finance, purchasing and enterprise resource planning also implemented.
“While focusing on manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies, the team also worked hard to drive revenue growth across the business. The group achieved FY20 net sales of $44.5 million, up 3.8 per cent on FY19 despite tough trading conditions,” Miller said.
Maggie Beer Products drove the group’s growth, with all key product lines achieving double digit growth in Q1 FY21 over the preceding corresponding period (PCP). Cheese was the start performer, reporting 79 per cent PCP due to the strong performance of new cheese lines released in Q4 FY20.
The 237 per cent growth on its e-commerce business is a major focus for the group to increase its direct to consumer (DTC) presence.
Group chair Reg Weine said: “The Cooking with Maggie series demonstrated the unrivalled brand love that Maggie Beer enjoys. We benefited from the consumer shift to online purchasing during COVID-19, through our Maggie Beer Food Club and DTC model.”
A new e-commerce platform with improved functionality is set for release in November. The group announced new partnerships with Marley Spoon and Startsat60 and is also launching a new Christmas hamper range to capitalise on the hamper and gifting market during the Christmas period.
A chilled delivery service for metro regions of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland is due to start at the end of October and its plant-based ready meals range was launched in Coles earlier this month.
Paris Creek Farms reported 18 per cent growth PCP and has developed a range of yoghurts for national release in H2 FY21. Weine said there was still work to do with the business to better balance its products, “the foundations are solid and momentum is building”.
The group’s Melbourne-based Saint David Dairy reported 5 per cent growth on PCP, a great result considering tough trading conditions with COVID-19 stage 4 restrictions in Victoria, the group said.
Weine said it had been more adversely affected than the other businesses due to the disruption to food service and hospitality sectors. “We were quick to divert channel focus to specialty retail during the lockdown period.”
the It is expanding its retail footprint with retail customers growing from 19 per cent of net customer sales at the end of Q4 FY20 to 25 per cent in Q1 FY21.
Miller said it was a pleasing start to FY21. “We are working hard to execute our plans to continue this growth. We are looking forward to a strong Christmas trading period [and] also looking forward to building on the partnerships formed in FY21 to grown our DTC and e-commerce business further.”
