Record profits for Wrigley ahead of its UK anniversary

Posted on 25 Jul 2017 by Jonny Williamson

Chewing gum giant, Wrigley Company, has announced that pretax profit has grown to almost £60m for its UK manufacturing operation.

Doublemint was introduced as the third Wrigley brand, joining Wrigley's Spearmint® and Juicy Fruit® in the Wrigley brand family in 1914 - image courtesy of Wrigley .
Doublemint was introduced as the third Wrigley brand, joining Wrigley’s Spearmint and Juicy Fruit in 1914 – image courtesy of Wrigley .

According to Wrigley UK’s annual report, pretax profit has increased to £59.1m for the year ending 31 December 2016 – up from £35.7m achieved in 2015.

However, turnover has dipped slightly to £247.6m from £254.8m the year before.

Wrigley employs almost 500 people in the UK and Ireland, and its factory in Plymouth produces around 4 million packets of chewing every day. Brands include Extra, Airwaves and Hubba Bubba, and are exported overseas as well as distributed across the UK and Ireland.

The company’s record profit announcement coincides with the 90th anniversary of it launching UK manufacturing operations in 1927 in London, before relocating the factory to its current 2 million sqft site in Plymouth in 1970.

As stated by Wrigley’s report, the success is no accident. Its recent profitability has been especially boosted by efficiencies in the supply chain and favourable changes to financing rates. The dip in turnover was reportedly due to pressure in the market.

The performance for the period has been driven, as stated by Mark Andrews, general manager at Wrigley UK, “By the implementation of an on-going strategy to reflect and adapt to anticipated changes in consumer attitudes and behaviours.

“For manufacturing, this includes driving a continuous improvement culture through our organisation, meaning we reduce waste and drive up efficiencies.  With this, we have increased the focus on some key areas of the market place.”

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