Vegetable box firm Riverford doubles payout to founder despite profits plunge

Appetite for organic food continues from Covid boom but firm warns inflation and rising costs are eating into profits

The organic vegetable box company Riverford doubled its dividend to its founder, Guy Singh-Watson, to 850,000 last year and tripled its workers' bonus pool to 2.4m despite a dive in profits.

Sales rose 1% to 110.8m in the year to 30 April 2022, managing to top the pandemic boom. However, the company said that trading conditions and cost pressures this year and next could be some of the worst in its 36-year history after profits dived 56% to 5.2m.