Cheese manufacturer Dairy Crest has announced trading in 2006, a year which saw two large acquisitions, was in line with expectations.
In its pre-close trading update ahead of May's full year report the company, which includes brands such as Cathedral City cheddar, predicted that, including benefits from the Express Dairies acquisition, it remained on track to deliver "synergies which peak at £9.0 million in 2008/09".
Last year the Surrey-based dairy products firm saw a number of changes to its structure including the August acquisition of Express Dairies, a doorstep delivery service, and October's disposal of the majority of its branded cheese operations to First Milk.
Early in 2007 the company also acquired St Hubert, the French and Italian spreads business, from Uniq.
The major transactions were all in line with the firm's "strategy to improve the quality of its earnings and reduce the group's exposure to commodity markets".
Mark Allen, chief executive of Dairy Crest, commented: "This has been an active year during which we have significantly reshaped the business. Dairy Crest traded solidly throughout the year and we are encouraged by the initial contribution from St Hubert spreads and the continued strong performance of Cathedral City."
He added: "We expect to report full year results in line with our expectations."
Digg 
Delicious 
Reddit 
StumbleUpon 
Google 
Technorati 
Netvouz