AM Phillip targets sales lift after tractor deal

Scottish farm machinery dealer AM Phillip Agritech Limited has high hopes its new franchise agreement with Massey Ferguson will boost tractor sales.

The firm was appointed the main Massey Ferguson dealer for Angus, Aberdeenshire and Moray in September last year.

It previously held the franchise for Case IH but the tractor manufacturer served notice to end the arrangement in February last year.

Accounts filed with Companies House reveal the firm enjoyed a boost in turnover, against a drop in pre-tax profits for the year ended December 31 2016.

Turnover at the company was up 8% to £30.68 million, from £28.38m in the year before. This was against a 27% reduction in pre-tax profits to £128,725, from £176,833 previously.

In the accounts, the firm said: “As predicted, maintaining previous levels of sales in the agricultural sector proved to be a challenge in 2016.

“Added to this was dealing with the scale down of the Case franchise and set-up costs associated with developing a new franchise partnership with Massey Ferguson (MF).

“2016 therefore experienced a few months where tractor sales were low, but following the MF start date in September, sales have started to pick up well.”

It said the late delivery of farm subsidy payments had contributed to a decrease in turnover in 2015, however since the start of 2016 there had been a “significant increase back toward more expected levels”.

The firm said it was continuing with a programme of cost reviews in recognition of a partial lower in sales over many of the farming sectors.

It said its relatively new Perth branch was progressing favourably and its Gammies groundcare division continued to perform well.