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THE contest for frozen fish sales between rivals Birds Eye and Young's using the word 'natural' appears to be stepping up. Birds Eye Iglo has recently launched two new ranges to its 'Simply Fish' brand with the word natural appearing in the description of one of the products.
The group, which is owned by private equity firm Permira, unveiled two lines under the Simply umbrella label - Simply Bake to Perfection and Simply Naked & Natural.
The launch more or less come around the same time Young's Seafood unveiled its new ' Naturally Delicious Fish' range presented in new sleeved packaging to allow consumers to see the product before purchase.
The Birds Eye The products, which will be backed by a £3.2 million marketing campaign, aimed to tap into the 'massive latent growth potential for frozen fish', senior brand manger Tim Albert said.
He added: 'Current product offerings don't address the usage barriers we have identified that consumers have with natural fish, and as a result, the growth in households buying into the sector is lower than expected.'
The second range, Simply Naked & Natural, is a line of fish fillets sealed in a 'Catch Fresh' pouch to boost freshness. As frozen food sales continue to increase Birds Eye has posted a rise in sales and profits for the past year. Their UK sales for the year rose by five per cent in 2008 to £545 million. Pre-tax profits, meanwhile, increased by almost 10 per cent to £203m.
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