One-off costs eat into feed firm figures

North-east animal feed firm Norvite Animal Nutrition plunged into the red last year despite a boost in sales.

Accounts filed with Companies House reveal the Insch-headquartered firm posted a pre-tax loss of £45,602 for the year ended May 31, 2017.

This is down from pre-tax profits of £203,164 the year before.

The firm, with manufacturing sites at Insch, Oldmeldrum and Ochiltree in Ayrshire as well as three country stores, experienced an increase in turnover to £13.394 million for the year – up from £12.460m previously.

In his report accompanying the accounts, managing director Edward Smith said the firm had been affected by the fortunes of the farming sector.

“

The last year has been one of the toughest on record for the farming industry. EDWARD SMITH

“The last year has been one of the toughest on record for the farming industry, which has put volume and margins under significant pressure in the supply industry and resulted in challenging trading conditions for our business,” said Mr Smith.

“During the year we continued to invest in the NEOS oilseed crushing facility and also completed implementation of a new ecommerce site to enhance our successful retail format and help drive future revenues.”

He said one-off costs associated with these projects cancelled out the increase in turnover, and resulted in the firm experiencing a pre-tax loss.

Commenting on the current financial year, Mr Smith said the company’s fortunes had turned around.

He expected revenues to increase by 15% for the year ended May 31, 2018, and for the firm to return to profit.

The company’s six-figure investment in its online shopping platform was reaping rewards and attracting the bulk of its sales from customers in the south and south-west of England, Mr Smith added.

The company was also seeing benefits from its Neopro product, a protein-rich meal produced at its NEOS oilseed crushing plant.

“We have been trialling that for the last 12 months in the dairy market and we believe we have a product which can replace both soya and protected fat in dairy diets,” said Mr Smith.

“Kilo for kilo it will replace soya and protected fat in high-yielding dairy cow diets, and actually save money,” he added.