British Bakels is part of the international Bakels group of companies, a bakery ingredients manufacturer with over 110 years of history.
They leverage novel manufacturing techniques to deliver over 250 functional ingredients, for the production of Bread & Confectionery products by bakers, large and small.
Having historically completed them in-house, Ayming was brought in to manage their R&D tax relief claims. Our experts managed to conduct an uplift of £945k in Qualifying Expenditure for British Bakels’ 2019 claim and build a robust methodology capable of maximising historic and future claims, adding value to the company’s strategy.
Kurt Knox, Chief Financial Officer, British Bakels
The project
Initially, British Bakels only claimed 50% of the salaries of the New Product Development department and 10% of the technical department. Having investigated all activities from other departments, such as Engineering, Manufacturing and Admin, while also including consumables, we increased British Bakels’ qualifying expenditure significantly.
The innovation
The heart and soul of R&D for British Bakels lies within their New Product Development (NPD) department. British Bakels constantly invests significant time and resources in NPD to gain a competitive edge within the market. Since 2019, British Bakels has undertaken projects that focus on the growing trend of vegan products, where they have redeveloped existing recipes by replacing key, non-vegan ingredients such as eggs or milk with vegan alternatives. One example of this is their development of a vegan muffin concentrate using a 100% plant-based formulation.
Additionally, in 2021, British Bakels also focused on appreciably improving the process of one of its signature products, Millionaires Caramel, to become more efficient. This was all while exploring more opportunities to develop similar products.
The results
The results of our work means we were able to ensure that British Bakel’s 2021 claim is in line with previous years in 2019 and 2020, uncovering well over £1 million of qualifying expenditure. This was despite their turnover being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and some of their employees being enrolled in the Covid Job Retention Scheme.
It’s clear British Bakels has prioritised R&D to remain competitive within the market, with their R&D intensity remaining consistent throughout all three years. This focus on innovation has helped British Bakels to increase their revenue by 5% in 2021 when compared to 2020, further highlighting the importance of R&D within the industry.
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