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 aimed for 20,000 for the full year.
Pre-tax profit at the company, which sells Agas as well as other branded ovens and refrigerators, rose 11.1% to £20m on sales of £273.3m, compared with £225.4m at the same time last year.
William McGrath, the 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."
But shares in the group dropped 4%, as a positive outlook for the full year and the 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 £6,500. Some 2,300 of those were sold outside the UK. Sales of Rangemaster cookers, which cost an average £1,500, rose 7% to 32,500, with international 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 commercial 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.
The group's refrigeration operations continued to grow, with good performances in China and Australia.
Mr McGrath said Aga was focused on energy efficiency in its domestic and commercial divisions. The Aga cooker range is being updated with the introduction of an an electrical stove that people can switch on and off.
Aga was positive about the full-year outlook, and said a slowdown in the US would be balanced by a buoyant Irish market. Mr McGrath said Ireland was its biggest market in the short-term, and France a strong growth prospect in the medium-term.
