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Arla ahead with £81m profit
LEEDS-based Arla foods exceeded expectations with £81.2m half-year profits.
The Danish-owned firm had set an annual target of 140m.
Arla, which is a co-operative, employs 1,415 people at two depots – Stourton in Leeds, and Settle in North Yorkshire. It is one of the world's largest dairies and products include Anchor and Lurpak butter and Cravendale milk. This year it expects to produce 7,000 tonnes of cottage cheese.
Stourton dairy in south Leeds produced 80m litres of Cravendale milk last year.
Arla has ambitious expansion plans. While its main markets are the UK, Sweden and Denmark, it is also expanding sales in Russia, China and the Middle East.
Arla finance officer Frederick Lotz said: "Last year's extensive savings campaign trimmed the group's costs and we have succeeded in maintaining the low cost levels achieved by the savings campaign in 2009."
But he warned that the effects of the recession could still affect markets in autumn.
"A decisive factor will be how consumer confidence develops," he said. "European consumers still bear the scars of the economic recession. Many are still cautious and prefer discount products to brands and this obviously impacts on earnings."
Arla was founded 120 years ago in Scandinavia by farmers who formed a co-operative.
It has since expanded into a global operation and British farmers are included in the co-operative, supplying Arla's British dairies.
Arla buys its milk from Arla Foods Milk Partnership (AFMP) and a selection of the major milk co-operatives. AFMP currently supplies approximately 80 per cent of Arla's raw milk requirements.
The Partnership (formerly Northern Milk Partnership and then Express Milk Partnership) was established in 1993.
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Saturday 19 May 2012
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