Dairy Crest rolls out cheese fillip

DAIRY Crest plans to invest £49m into the manufacturing of its Cathedral City and Davidstow mature cheddar brands. In his last results announcement before his retirement, chief executive John Houliston said the company was investing £41m into the Davidstow Creamery in Cornwall. The Government is adding a further £8m in the hope of regenerating the economically-troubled area.

Houliston, who spearheaded the launch of two 'super dairies' for milk production in London and Gloucestershire, said: 'We're going to create the UK's largest and most efficient mature cheddar cheese plant.'

His decade-long reign at the Country Life butter-to-Frijj flavoured milks group has seen the closure of more than 20 smaller dairies as he cut production of standard, low margin mild cheddar and focused on more-profitable mature cheeses.

Dairy Crest is tipped as a possible bidder for Uniq's St Ivel spreads business, having already bought the dairy business of the old Unigate, the dairy giant from which Uniq was formed.

Pre-tax profits in the year to 31 March fell to £28.9m from £33.6m a year earlier on turnover of £1.29bn against £1.23bn last time, although the latest figures included £42.5m of one-off restructuring costs. Shareholders will pick up a total dividend of 15.2p a share compared with 14.1p last time.