Cranswick shares sizzle as London craves more pigs in blankets

Cranswick is doubling the amount of pigs in blankets it is making this year to 40 million, the food producer said on Tuesday, ahead of a surge in Christmas orders from London customers.

Chief executive Adam Couch told the Standard that the firm is growing market share as a supplier of festive products to the capital.

“We are providing turkey to Pret a Manger for its sandwiches, as well as seeing more work from chains such as Itsu and Wahaca as they grow.”

His comments came as the firm served up strong first-half figures, with sales up 15.9% to £580.8 million. Pre-tax profit rose to £40.4 million from £29.2 million.

The company said that the price of buying pork has “increased sharply” during the period, but analysts said these price rises would probably be passed on.

Cranswick has been on the acquisition trail. It bought Northern Irish pork processor Dunbia Ballymena this month while Crown Chicken, which was snapped up in April for £40 million, made a “strong contribution” to performance.

Shares in the firm jumped 81.32p to 2366.32p.