Iceland Foods plunged to a £17.1m loss in its last financial year, as it faced a “wholly unprecedented” £94m rise in its annual energy bill.
Adjusted EBITDA dipped 16.8% to £105.8m, in the year to 24 March, however the frozen food specialist said this was at the top end of expectations.
Excluding energy costs, adjusted EBITDA jumped £72.3m.
Sales at the company nudged up from £3.61bn in 2022 to £3.86bn, which it attributed to 24 store openings and “a record-breaking Christmas”.
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Despite the loss, the business claimed it had made “very strong progress” during the year, with its “sales growth, cost saving and efficiency programmes offsetting the majority of the substantial inflationary pressures” it faced.
Iceland said it had reduced its cost base, which put it on track for increased profits in the future.
The news comes after the frozen foods supermarket said it would not be releasing a Christmas advert this year, to invest more in keeping prices low.
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2 Comments. Leave new
When I worked at Iceland I was telling them for years to get rid of those inefficient individual freezers but I was ignored. Waste of energy and space.
I find it extraordinary that they weren’t able to mitigate a substantial of this. They are very well placed to invest in the generation of their electricity, which would be there for the long term.