Carr’s has tough first quarter

AGRICULTURE, food and engineering group Carr’s Milling Industries has admitted that first quarter trading has been “substantially below” the first quarter of the previous year.

The Carlisle-based group reiterated that it expects an improved result for the current financial full year despite its disappointing performance in the first quarter to the end of November 2009.

In its trading statement, Carr’s said that its expectations for the fertiliser division have further improved, but those for flour have deteriorated by a broadly similar amount as competition means margins are under pressure.

Sales of fertiliser started to pick up in early December, after a slow start, as the price of fertiliser raw materials increased and farmers sought to avoid the effect of further increases, it said.

The company said it expects this division to make a “respectable” profit this year, following the losses made in the previous year as a result of raw material price decreases.

The company’s engineering division has seen good order intake, according to the company, including a €6.5m order for Walischmiller Engineering to supply robotic manipulators to a German research centre over the next two and a half years.

At November 28, 2009, net debt stood at £25.2m, compared with £30.5m a year earlier. The company added that debt increases in the winter months due to seasonal increases in working capital in the agriculture business.

The group is holding its annual general meeting this morning.