Noble posts latest financial statement

The UK’s largest egg producer, Noble Foods, has released its accounts for the financial year to 30 September 2010, recording a small increase in profits and citing significant expenditure on preparation for the 2012 conventional cage ban.

Over the 12-month period, the company made a pre-tax profit of £24.1m, an increase of £1.4m on its 2009 profit, based on a turnover of £541.8m which was £8.3m larger than the company’s 2009 sales.

In the report, recently lodged at Companies House, the company says it and contracted producers were set to spend £100m on converting to colony cages ahead of the 2012 conventional cage ban, with £33m of this investment coming from Noble alone.

The directors said they believed the company was well-equipped to meet regulatory change and was working to improve efficiencies by investing heavily at its Thornton and North Scarle packing centres.

The company also closed its Edinburgh egg processing facility in 2010, with all production moved to Bilsthorpe and Chesterfield.

The launch of Happy Eggs was also flagged up, with directors highlighting the £55m retail value of the brand and their commitment to using it to increase sales across the shell egg sector.

December 2010 also saw the company’s name formally changed from Deans Foods to Noble Foods.

The total remuneration package for the highest paid director was £574,000, without contributions to pension costs, an increase of £60,000 on 2009.