Prince of Wales enters price war

The Prince of Wales (pictured) is seeking to insulate his luxury organic food company, Duchy Originals, from the chill winds of the recession by slashing the prices of many of its products. It would appear a timely move: the Daily Telegraph reports today that the latest accounts show that profits have plummeted by 80 per cent in one year.

The poor performance of the brand, whose products include Free Range Old Fashioned Pork Chipolatas with Fresh Herb and Ploughman's Pickle with Ale, coincides with the sudden exit of two of Duchy's most senior executives, CEO Belinda Gooding and commercial director Alan Bradley, who left the company recently without explanation. The company, which pays all its profits to the Prince's Charities Foundation, is now valued at £47m, whereas last year analysts priced it at £53m.

Commenting on the decision to drop the prices, Andrew Baker, the company's chief executive, said: "The problem wasn't that, biscuit for biscuit, we were more expensive, it was that we were the only ones in 250g packets. The entry price to our brand was often prohibitively expensive simply because we were selling too much product."

Barker added that the fall in profit was a direct legacy of Duchy Originals giving all its profits to charity and never building up reserves or investment funds. "Despite the credit crunch we have continued to invest in our strategy through the current year, developing new products and new markets whilst undertaking a comprehensive redesign project of all our packaging for launch this spring."

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