Arla's total UK revenue increased to over £2 billion last year despite 50 percent of its products being impacted by the pandemic, results show.
The dairy co-operative's UK total revenue increased from £1.95 billion to £2.12 billion in 2020.
The growth came in both Arla’s branded business, at 13% strategic branded revenue growth and in its own label offering which grew 4% in volume driven revenue growth.
The impressive financial results follows a year of volatility and global disruption which hit the dairy industry due to Covid-19.
Arla said it had quickly reshaped the business to meet the spike in home consumption and high demand for dairy, while offsetting negative impacts in other sectors.
Arla Foods UK MD, Ash Amirahmadi said: “Our branded business increased when consumers turned to food products they trusted during lock down.
"This was seen most significantly in branded butter when the nation searched for quality ingredients for baking.
"But it was the volume growth and the support of our retail customers that enabled us to flex our business and ensure the public had access to dairy when lockdown drove a significant increase in retail demand.”
Key brands that UK shoppers turned to saw positive strategic branded growth in the UK including the Arla brand overall (+8.8 per cent) driven by Cravendale (+23 per cent), Lactofree (+11per cent), Anchor (+9 per cent) and Lurpak (+15 per cent).
The figures also reflect some of the difficult decisions the dairy co-operative had to make last year.
To maximise overall volume output, a number of Arla’s value added brands temporarily ceased production or were reduced in volume.
Both the Big Milk and Skyr Arla sub brands saw reductions in strategic branded growth last year of -5.1% and -12.9% respectively.
Last year also created a negative impact overall for the Arla Pro brand, which is predominately sold to foodservice businesses.
The brand saw a 6 percent decline in strategic branded revenue growth.
