Kids boost Kinnerton sales

The company, which claims to be the top children's confectioner, has increased sales this year by 14 per cent to £57.1m (€83.7m)

Kinnerton, the UK's fourth largest Easter egg manufacturer, was taken over by snack and confectionery buyer Zetar in April 2005 for £31.2m (€45.7m)

Seasonal success is important for the company who had its most successful Easter trading period ever in 2006 with growth of 28 per cent, and traditionally perform well in the Christmas market - in 2005, 6 million Kinnerton advent calendars were sold.

The Easter and Christmas sales surge allowed the chocolate-makers to recover from a quiet first quarter, caused by hot weather and reduced sales to third party manufacturers.

Kinnerton has profitable licensing agreements allowing them to use a number of children's characters such as Barbie, The Simpsons and Winnie the Pooh.

And more lucrative deals are planned for the coming year with agreements to use characters from children's films Pirates of the Carribean and Over the Hedge.

Over £1m (€1.46m) was spent on developing the company during the year - principally in streamlining production, creating a nut-free area in existing facilities and acquiring new manufacturing equipment.

In addition the business launched its Cocoa Deli range - chocolate lollipops aimed at the adult market - stocked by major retailers such as Tesco.

Zetar aim to encourage further growth from its subsidiary with the use of Disney characters for year-round products and expanding into new markets.

And the company hope to strengthen business overseas with the appointment of a new Far East manager to monitor sourcing contracts, opportunities with retailers in the US, Europe and South Africa and continuing strong sales in Australia.