Yahoo Finance Late Queen’s favourite marmalade maker posts loss for first time ‘in memory’
The late Queen’s favourite marmalade maker has posted its first loss “in memory” after it was hammered by the soaring cost of energy and raw materials.
Walter Scott, chairman of Wilkin & Sons, which owns Tiptree Marmalade, said “virtually all” of the company’s troubles could be laid at the door of energy costs, which he blamed for pushing up the price of everything from glass jars to packaging.
Mr Scott said: “The words in the report for 2022 ‘we may not be so lucky next year’ proved to be prophetic: we have posted a loss for the first time in my memory.
“I was recently listening to a radio finance programme that said many companies were calling 2024 ‘Survive to 25!’.
“Notwithstanding these results, everyone worked extremely hard to mitigate these problems. I am sure that Winston Churchill would have an appropriate saying for the adversity we faced and the way in which we tackled these setbacks.”
Latest accounts for the company showed on Thursday it fell to a £1.8m loss in 2023 from a £1.1m profit a year earlier. It came despite a jump in sales from £48.1m to £53.5m.
Wilkin & Sons was founded in 1885 but traces its roots back to 1757 when the founding family began farming in Tiptree, Essex. In addition to fruit preserves, it now makes a range of condiments including tomato sauce and mayonnaise.
The company was first awarded a royal warrant in 1911 by George V and has retained it from successive monarchs ever since.
The late Queen visited Tiptree’s factory in 2010 to celebrate the company’s 125 years of jam-making, during which she went on a tour of the jam factory to watch the workers destalking mulberries, spooning out the centres of oranges and putting the finish on Christmas puddings. She was also presented with a tiny gold and silver Little Scarlet strawberry as well as a posy of cream and gold flowers.
After her death in 2022, many mourners left marmalade sandwiches for Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace alongside flowers and other tributes, in a nod to her love of the preserve and her association with Paddington Bear.
In a video released in the same year for her Platinum Jubilee she was seen bonding with Paddington over their shared love of marmalade.
Mr Scott said Wilkin & Sons had been invited to reapply for one by the King and had submitted a document for consideration in February.
However, Mr Scott, who has worked for the company for almost 40 years, said: “A worrying aspect of this is that as the grantee I have been asked to provide a CV – this has not seen the light of day since 1985.”
It follows warnings last year from Wilkin & Sons that it was facing “an extraordinary hit” from energy costs after it was forced to switch from three-year to two-year contracts.
Its managing director, Chris Newenham, told The Telegraph last June: “I’m loath to sound like the harbinger of doom, but I think the next few years are going to be very, very challenging.”
In its accounts, Mr Scott said: “Virtually all of our troubles can be laid at the door of energy costs. Not only have these risen exponentially, but we have also been hit by unprecedented rises in the costs of raw materials.
“Both glass and cap manufacture are energy hungry, as is packaging. When coupled with the increase in labour costs, not a very pretty picture emerges.”
Wilkin & Sons has been planning to install solar panels on a 25 acre-site at its Essex headquarters in a bid to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and bring energy costs down.
However, in a further blow to the company, these plans have been hamstrung by wet weather.
Mr Scott said in the accounts – which were signed off on 30 May – that while Wilkin & Sons had received the solar panels, “unfortunately, the ground is too wet to do anything with them at present”.
Soaring costs have already spurred the company to shrink the size of its Tiptree marmalade jars from 454g to 340g. It lowered the retail price of the jars with the change, but still charged shoppers more per 100g.
The company said at the time it had been reluctant to raise the price of its marmalades above £3 so had chosen to cut the size instead.
Despite posting a loss for 2023, Mr Scott insisted there were “some rays of light” during the year as sales hit a record high, while exports of its products topped the £10m mark for the first time.
