Error sees Glisten slump into red

Snack food firm Glisten has swung into red in the wake of difficult trading

Snack food firm Glisten has said it had swung into the red in the wake of difficult trading and accounting errors in one of its fruit and cereal businesses.

The Leeds-based group posted a worse than expected pre-tax loss of £746,000 for the 12 months to June 30, compared with a £2.7 million profit the previous year.

This follows revelations that its Halo Foods business - one of its largest divisions - had been understating costs in the race to provide cut price snacks in the consumer downturn.

Glisten said it had addressed the Halo problems swiftly and the business had enjoyed a profitable first quarter in the current financial year.

The group also assured it had made a good start to the new year, with like-for-like sales ahead 13% at £25 million in the first 17 weeks.

Chief executive Paul Simmonds said the previous 12 months had been "challenging".

He added that before the issues at Halo, "we had considered that Glisten was performing reasonably well in the context of difficult market conditions typified by low consumer confidence and 'trading-down'.

"Some of our business units delivered excellent trading performance again this year, but sadly this was overshadowed by the issues which arose within Halo."

Glisten suspended two senior bosses at the division after discovering the irregularities and said management had been replaced from within the group.

The results described how Halo had developed a plan centred on launching its own "price-fighting" range under the Snax label.