Iceland has blamed widening losses in its last financial year on tough trading conditions and ongoing uncertainty around Brexit and the December general election.
The frozen food specialist recorded pre-tax losses of £71.8m for the year to the end of March, following a “sluggish Christmas” due to uncertainty around Brexit and the election.
The retailer said it also had £5m of income owing to the rising price of packaging waste recovery notes – as a result, adjusted EBITDA fell to £133m.
Despite this, sales overall grew to £3.2bn and the retailer opened 40 new stores and 31 outlets of The Food Warehouse.
Iceland noted that the outbreak of coronavirus had radically changed customer behaviour, and in turn boosted its market share due to the location of its stores on neighbourhood high streets and retail parks, and booming online sales.
According to the most recent market share data from Kantar, Iceland reached its highest mark in 20 years with 2.5% of the overall grocery market.
The grocer said it spent £19.4m on costs, some of which stemmed from the Covid-19 crisis that hit the UK in March. The costs included providing staff with PPE equipment and implementing social distancing.
Iceland said a “growing appreciation of frozen food” and “positive consumer response to the reassertion of our value credentials” put it in a good position to achieve continued sales growth in the future.
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