Carr’s sees earnings surge by 27%

CARLISLE food and engineering company Carr’s Milling Industries has seen annual pre-tax profits rise by 27% to £9m.

Chief executive Chris Holmes said the figure reflected the impact of several acquisitions and strong sales of animal feed in the US. Group sales dipped 1.7% to £344m.

In the second half Carr’s agriculture division made three acquisitions: Northumberland-based feed supplier Forsyths, AC Burn and Scotmin Nutrition. It said the integration of these businesses was progressing well.

Over-capacity in the milling industry and a sharp rise in wheat prices has had a negative impact on the food business where management continue to look at costs. But the engineering arm benefited from the first full-year from German robotics firm Wälischmiller which was acquired in March 2009.

Chief executive Chris Holmes said: “Carr’s has had a strong start to the new financial year, benefiting from both recent acquisitions and strong sales of animal feed in the US. In the UK, our broad agricultural base has enabled us to continue growing despite the prevailing unsustainable farmgate milk price. We believe that the foundations laid last year are already paying dividends in this quarter and we expect this to continue.”

The board is proposing a final dividend of 12p a share to take the total to 24p, up 4.3%.