Potato chips (crisps) manufacturer Largo set for profit despite flat sales

Irish Crisp maker  Largo Foods expects to make a net profit this year in spite of sales in Ireland of its leading snackfood brands – Tayto, King and Hunky Dorys – remaining flat at about €76 million.

“Our sales are up 27 per cent in the North, but in the South they’ve flat. There’s no growth,” Ray Coyle, Largo’s owner and founder, told The Irish Times yesterday. “If we can hold sales here at the level we’re currently at, I’d be happy.”

Largo’s various crisp brands currently have a market share of 47 per cent.

“We’re just trying to protect our market share as best we can,” Mr Coyle said.

Largo’s 2008 accounts, which have been seen by The Irish Times, show that, while sales rose by 4.4 per cent to €94 million last year, the company recorded an after-tax loss of €3.6 million.

Mr Coyle said the restructuring of the business last year, which also saw the company reduce raw material costs and cut wages by 5 per cent for staff and 10 per cent for management, would enable Largo to post a profit in the current financial period.