The results for Dairy Crest's end of year, reported at the end of March, have shown that its revenue is down by 5.8 per cent to £422.3 million.

Similarly, the company's group product profit also fell by £0.9 million to £66 million, reports Food Manufacture.

Its main brands, Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Frylight also experienced a downturn in revenue of 2.3 per cent over this same time period.

However, the company isn't disheartened, saying that this was actually an encouraging performance in a butters and spreads market that has been unsteady.

The main element causing the decrease in revenue stems from a requirement to reduce prices across its cheese, whey and butter products, as a reflection of the market.

A positive performer for sales however was Cathedral City, which saw its volumes increase by 6.4 per cent and it accounts for 55 per cent of cheese sales in the UK - with regards to supermarket and high street grocery shopping.