UK: Prince Charles' Duchy Originals sees sales jump 133% thanks to Waitrose deal

Source: mirror.co.uk
By Victoria Murphy

OrganicPortal NewsRoom

Prince Charles’ organic food company turned its financial fortunes around just eight months after striking a deal with Waitrose, it announced yesterday.

Duchy Originals, which was founded by the prince in 1990, made losses of £3.2 million for the 12 months leading up to March 2009 after suffering from an industry-wide downturn against organic produce.

It launched a joint venture with Waitrose in September 2010, and yesterday St James’ Palace announced annual profits of £2.25 million for the first eight months of trading until March 2011. It also announced sales had increased 133% since the same date.

Of that profit £625,293 was donated to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and the rest will be used to repay a loan the company took on because of losses in previous years.

The brand said yesterday it expected to generate well over £1 million for charity in its first full year of trading from 2011 to 2012.

Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose, said: “These figures reflect an extremely successful start for Duchy Originals from Waitrose and we look forward to announcing next year that the charity donation for our first 12 months of trading has significantly exceeded our £1 million commitment.”

St James’ Palace also published 2010 to 2011 accounts for the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation which showed that donations were up from £4.7 million to £12.2 million.

The £20 million loan the charity took on to help save 18th century Dumfries House was also significantly reduced, with £3.5 million now left to pay.

More information: http://www.duchyoriginals.com/

Tip: OrganicPortal UK - Organic Food

OrganicPortal NewsRoom

11.01.2012

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