Profits at ice cream giant Froneri took a hit last year due to the closure of one of its three UK factories.
The owner of ice cream brands including Nuii and Kelly’s of Cornwall was forced to spend almost £9m on the factory closure in Skelmersdale, near Manchester.
The decision to close the site was made in October last year, with production coming to a permanent halt in December.
It caused profits to fall to £30.4m in the year to 31 December, according to its latest UK accounts, down from £34.8m in 2023.
The business declined to comment further on the closure.
Froneri is the the second-largest producer of ice cream in the world. It was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between Nestlé and R&R Ice Cream, owned by private equity firm PAI Partners.
Froneri’s sales were hit by the wet British summer last year with revenue falling 5.9% to £303m.
However, price hikes at the start of the year helped maintain profit margins as the company passed on commodity inflation to customers.
Froneri pushed through another “significant” price rise later in the year after the cost of cocoa hit record highs.
The company maintained, however, that “the reduced level of turnover is largely due to the very poor weather and not correlated to the price increases that have been implemented”.
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