Ice Cream Business CEO Collects National Award for Profit Growth

Ice Cream Business CEO Collects National Award for Profit Growth

James Lambert, executive chairman and CEO of R&R Ice Cream, has collected the award for the UK's fastest-growing private company at the Sunday Times PwC Profit Track annual dinner at the Savoy Hotel in London.

 

Earlier this year, R&R was judged the clear winner of the Profit Track award having recorded a leap in profits of 210% a year from £1.5 million in 2006 to £43 million in 2009. The league table featured other well-known brands including online card retailer Moonpig.com (No 3), racing team McLaren (No 4), online bookmaker bet365 (No 13) and lifestyle retailer Cath Kidston (No 22).

 

R&R - which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year - started out as a small regional ice cream business with five employees and turnover in the early years of some £250,000. It now has three production sites in the UK - Leeming Bar, Leeds and Bodmin - as well as a further five factories across mainland Europe. The company is Europe's largest producer of own label ice cream and currently manufactures some 450 million litres of ice cream annually. Last year it acquired the French ice cream business Rolland - the country's third largest ice cream company.

 

In addition to its dominant position in the own label sector, R&R also has a strong branded business with the Nestle ice cream range as well as Kelly's Cornish Ice Cream, Thorntons and Skinny Cow. On mainland Europe its brand portfolio includes Mars, Weightwatchers, Landliebe and the popular Polish brand Zielona Budka.

 

At the dinner, PwC partner Suzi Woolfson congratulated the league table companies on their success as well as highlighting their important contribution to the UK economy. "Fewer than 2,000 private companies in the UK generate profits of more than £3m, so you are part of an elite," she said.

 

James Lambert commented: "One of the cornerstones of R&R's success has been the high calibre of people who have chosen to make their careers with us. I am confident that - with this pool of talent - the business will go on to achieve even greater success and have a lasting impact on the European ice cream sector