Sugro UK end year on high despite tough year

Confectionery buying group Sugro UK has managed to finish the year on a high with as turnover 12% up on the previous year, despite a tough first quarter.

Managing director Philip Jenkins explains in The Grocer that the start of the year had “proved a battle for the sector because the multiples had stocked up on multipacks, compromising the independent wholesale supply chain.”

He notes that, at one point, Sugro’s single countline business was down 29% as supermarket deals such as five Mars for £1 drove retailers to buy from the multiples instead of wholesalers.

However, suppliers had “quickly realised they’d made a mistake” by investing so much in the mults and had since helped Sugro to support its value Quidz In range, he said. 

The take-up of Quidz In, as well as Sugro’s Money Maker Plus promotions and Liquidator Challenge trade show, had helped Sugro to recover turnover and finish the year to 30 November 12% ahead of 2010, Jenkins said.