In reporting an operating profit of £96.3 million, Premier Foods has revealed that it increased its consumer marketing spent to £39.4 million in 2012, an increase of 59,5 per cent, as it plans to spend more on grocery marketing this year.
The company, which owns brands such as Sharwoods, Batchelors, Ambrosia, Hovis and Bisto, has revealed the extent of its marketing last year, which grew by almost 60 per cent of its consumer marketing spend in 2011 of £24.7 million.
The increase of almost £15m in consumer spend came from new TV campaigns to promote the company’s seven Power Brands, with investment in its Grocery brand marketing nearly doubling as it rolled out the Great British Curry campaign for Sharwoods, the Pledge campaign for Bisto and the picnic campaign to promote Ambrosia.
The company has said that it expects expenditure on consumer marketing to remain at a similar level this year, while it also aims to place a greater emphasis on Grocery marketing investment, having already increased that spend by 96 per cent last year.
Gorcery brand sales as reported to have grown by 4 per cent in 2012, while Power Brands sales increased by 2.1 per cent.
Gavin Darby, CEO of Premier Foods, commented: "Premier Foods has many strengths and great potential. The management team did a great job in 2012 to lay the foundations for future growth and I am very excited to be working with them to develop and grow our Power Brands in the coming years. It's important now to maintain continuity and focus on executing our existing strategies to build further momentum in Grocery while re-building value in Bread."
Earlier this month, Premier Foods agreed to the sale of its Sweet Pickles and Table Sauces for £92.5 million, while also selling off its sweet spreads and Jellies brand Harley’s, Robertson’s Frank Cooper, Keiller, Gales and Sun-Pat to Celestial Group for £200 million last August.