Watton-based pork producer Cranswick, which provides sausages and bacon for the major supermarkets and Weight Watchers, said sales in the first quarter of the year to July 27 were 5pc ahead year-on-year due to efficiencies and increased capacity.

The business said it was in a robust financial position with debts 40pc lower than a year ago at £33 million, and with £120 million of banking facilities to draw on.

It comes as the EDP Top100 firm announced in April that it would invest £3m in refrigeration equipment to make 'huge' efficiency savings at its Norfolk factory.

It was hoped the investment would help shave 18pc off its utility bills by bringing its cooling equipment in line with the 'state-of-the-art' slaughtering and packaging facilities at its site on Brandon Road.

The two pig rearing businesses it snapped up last year – including East Anglian Pigs in Little Melton – were now fully integrated into its operations and supplying 20pc of its meat (about 10,000 pigs), the company said.