Australasian food company Goodman Fielder has reported a narrower full year loss, but is upbeat its planned overhaul of the business is on the right track.
Goodman Fielder chief executive Chris Delaney says the company is now considering reducing its sales force.
The listed company has brands such as Vogels, Meadowlea and Edmonds. It lost $A146.9 million Australian dollars in the year to June, an improvement of 11% compared with the previous year.
Excluding one-off items, such as writing down the value of its baking and home ingredients arms as well as restructuring costs, Goodman Fielder's normalised profit fell 29% to $A96.5 million.
The company has closed plants and axed jobs to combat falling sales amid intense competition from cheaper private labels in its baking, home ingredients and dairy divisions.
Mr Delaney says it's now considering reducing its sales force as part of its plans to slim down its operations.
Goodman's chief financial officer Shane Gannon says the baking sector has been hard hit.
Goodman's $A100m cost-cutting plan includes pulling all its New Zealand operations under one umbrella.
Goodman is also selling assets and has an agreement with an unnamed bidder for its Integro edible fats and oil business, which is expected to close at the end of the month.
Looking ahead, Mr Delaney says trading conditions will remain tough amid ongoing intense competition, though easing commodity prices will help.
