The Grocer – 17 August 2019

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 17 August 2019 | The Grocer | 9

Elena Cherubini
Scottish premium soup
and shellfish producer
The Hebridean Food Co
is seeking crowdfunded
cash to branch out into
high-end ready meals.
The company is look-
ing to raise £200k on
Crowdcube in exchange
for a 10.35% stake, valu-
ing the brand at £1.7m.
It plans to use the cash
raised for equipment pur-
chases to scale up pro-
duction and to cover
marketing costs associ-
ated with the upcoming
launch of a range of pre-
mium ready meals, after
securing an agreement
with Lidl to stock the
products in its Scottish
stores from January.
The business said it
was also in “advanced

The Hebridean Food

Co turns to crowd for

ready meal support

talks” with other retailers

to secure listings for the

meals, which will include

a number of traditional

dishes.

“We wanted the ready

meals to speak about

who we are so, where we

can, we want them to be

as Scottish as possible,”

said founder Douglas

Stewart. “That’s where

we have had success with

the supermarkets.”

Additional funding

would be used to extend

the brand’s fresh soup

range – currently avail-

able in Sainsbury’s,

Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl

• after signing an own-
  label deal with a “major
  supermarket” to provide
  500k units of soup per
  year from September.
  Discussions are ongo-
  ing with other three UK
  supermarkets to secure
  listings of both own-label
  and branded soups.
  The Hebridean Food
  Co claims to have grown
  turnover by 172% in the
  past year, with revenues
  of £273k in the 12 months
  to April 2019. It forecasts
  sales of £1.4m by the
  end of FY2020, having
  already secured 60% of
  its target to date.

Lidl has agreed to stock the

meals in its Scottish stores

Blue Skies supplies fresh

fruit, juice and ice cream

Fresh fruit, juice and
ice cream supplier Blue
Skies has been develop-
ing longer-life products
to mitigate the effects of a
no-deal Brexit, according
to newly filed accounts.
The company saw prof-
its quadruple to £4.3m
from £1.1m on the back of
rising sales in the year to
30 December.
Turnover rose 8% to
£108.4m, largely driven
by increased sales in
Europe, to £103.7m from
£95.2m. Revenues from
Blue Skies’ rest of the
world operations, how-
ever, fell 11% to £4.7m.

Blue Skies looks to mitigate no-

deal Brexit with longer-life NPD

Founded in 1997 in

Ghana by Anthony Pile,

Blue Skies was set up to

supply fresh-cut African

fruit to retailers overseas.

Given its exposure to

the export market, mit-

igating the potential

impact of Brexit is crucial

for the brand, which has

been focusing on the

development of “longer-

life products that can

reach far-flung markets”

to address the challenges

posed by increased con-

trols at ports.

“A no-deal Brexit or a

very hard Brexit consid-

erably concern our busi-

ness,” said chief sales

and marketing officer

Hugh Pile. “Being short-

life, and reliant on effi-

cient and smoothly run

logistics, our business

would be threatened

if we were to face any

delays at borders.”

US investors were buoyed by Walmart beating

second quarter earnings forecasts, but the out-

look for Asda in the UK was more sobering amid

rock bottom consumer confidence.

Parent company Walmart reported 0.5% like-

for-like sales growth for Asda, excluding petrol,

for the period 1 April to 30 June 2019, compared

with a decline of 1.1% in the previous quarter.

However, the period included the benefit of a late

Easter and means Asda recorded a 0.3% like-for-

like fall in sales in the first half of the year.

Asda CEO Roger Burnley said the lowest con-

sumer confidence levels for six years, wet weather

and lack of blockbuster sporting events this sum-

mer meant non-food had endured a “challenging”

period. “However, we’re satisfied that our food

business has continued to perform well and our

online growth is outpacing the market,” he said.

Walmart itself reported second-quarter earn-

ings that comfortably topped market expectations

as it raised its outlook for the full year. It posted a

2.8% rise in second-quarter same-store sales com-

pared to expectations of a 2.1% uplift.

The sales uplift led to Walmart upping its full-

year same-store sales forecast to between 2.5% to

3%, while earnings growth will be around zero

compared with analyst expectations of a 1.6%

year-on-year decline.

Walmart shares rose 6.5% in pre-market trading

on Thursday to $113.15, closing in on its all-time

share price high of $115.49 set in July.

Elsewhere, Carlsberg also upgraded its full-

year earnings expectations after strong revenue

growth and margin improvement in the first half

of the year.

The Danish brewing giant posted organic net

revenue growth of 4.2% in the period after sec-

ond-quarter revenues growth of 2.6%. Reported

net revenues were up 6.5% in the first half to

DKK33bn, helped by the impact of its Cambrew

acquisition and positive currency movements.

Carlsberg shares were up 5.3% to DKK1,000.

in Copenhagen by Thursday lunchtime.

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WALMART SHARES

Dates: 15 August 2018 – 15 August 2019

120

110

100

90

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A S O N D J F M A M J J A

2018 2019

BREXIT FEARS

A no-deal Brexit or a very hard Brexit considerably

concern our business – Hugh Pile, Blue Skies chief sales

& marketing officer