Growing interest in quality home cooking drove record first-half profits at Aga Foodservice. The group sold 9,000 of its upmarket cast-iron cookers, and is aiming for 20,000 for the full year.
Pre-tax profit at the firm, which sells Aga and Rayburn cookers as well as other branded ovens and refrigerators, rose 11.1% to £20m on sales of £273.3m, compared with £225.4m a year before.
William McGrath, chief executive, said the performance highlighted a growing interest in quality cookers for the home and the need for more efficient commercial products. "There is a structural change. People are looking to more healthy living and it does mean that how food is cooked, whether it is domestically or commercially, is getting more attention," he said.
But shares in the group fell 4% as a positive outlook for the year and a 16.7% rise in the interim dividend to 3.5p failed to sustain recent gains. The group said it had sold 6,500 Agas, which cost an average of £6,500. Some 2,300 were sold outside the UK. Sales of Rangemaster cookers, which cost £1,500 on average, rose 7% to 32,500, with foreign sales accounting for 18%, compared with 13% in the previous year.
Aga's commercial division, recently bolstered by the £26m acquisition of Whirlpool's Amana microwave subsidiary, also performed well. The bakery unit, which supplies doughnut equipment to Dunkin' Donuts and Wal-Mart in the US, and sells bread-making equipment to 70% of French boulangeries, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's, had a strong first half.
Mr McGrath said Aga was focusing on energy efficiency. The Aga range is being updated with a new electrical stove that can be switched on and off.
