INVESTMENT

Growth in chocolate sales and a developing taste for real dairy ice cream in the Far East have helped Mackie’s of Scotland to book a healthy annual profit haul.

The family-owned firm has reported a gross profit of £953,896forthefinancialyear ending 31 May 2017 on a slight rise in overall turnover to £12.2 million.

The Aberdeenshire company’s chocolate range became further established, racking up sales growth of almost 100 per cent.

Mackie’s export sales to markets in the Far East – predominately to Taiwan and Korea – were up 19 per cent on the previous year, and have set the firm in good stead to deliver £1m in revenue in 2018.

Closer to home, the ice cream brand is said to have experienced “great success” south of the Border, with significant growth and the strengthening of its honeycomb flavour sales in supermarket giant Sainsbury’s, helping the company’s Uk-wide market share grow to 6 per cent, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

However, total turnover

0 The Mackie family is behind one of Scotland’s best known food firms

MAC MACKIE, MD from ice cream sales dipped 2 per cent due mainly to a spike in the price of cream (up 250 per cent in the year) causing the firm to hold back on some promotional activity.

While the firm is largely cushioned from the dairy market price hikes by producing almost all of the milk it needs from its own herd, it still buys a considerable volume of additional cream and has warned that this is a cost which will “continue to put pressure on ice cream sales”.

Mac Mackie, the firm’s managing director, said: “My father’s motto was always ‘no change, no chance’ – and that certainly sums up the past few years very nicely here at the farm.

“Not only has our ice cream become established in new markets, such as Korea and Taiwan, but we are making real developments south of the Border – something that we hope we can continue to grow.

“A milestone moment has also been the launch of our first retail venture, our ‘19.2’

“2017 year was certainly a year of evolution for the business – and we’ve invested large amounts into some very exciting new projects.”