In the second half of the year to the end of March 2022, it said the gradual easing of Covid-19 restrictions had a “positive effect” on foodservice volumes and reduced operational costs.
It also cited a move away from lower returning trading areas, the proactive management of margin, favourable global commodity prices and cost efficiencies across the business as reasons for its rise in profits. During the financial year, it decided to scale back the operational activities of its subsidiary Dale Farm Ice Cream Limited, its ice cream business in the Republic, “due to continuing difficulties” with the performance of this unit.
Dale Farm Ltd recorded exceptional item costs of £1.8 million. This includes redundancy costs of £237,000 along with other exit costs of £992,000 relating to its scaling back of the Republic ice cream business.Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics