Fish Farmer

Cooke saw Scottish profits fall to £34.2m in 2020

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TURNOVER for Cooke’s Scottish fish farming business held steady during 2020, the year Covid-19 hit the industry, but pre-tax profits were down by just over 14%.

Cooke Aquacultur­e Scotland reported turnover of £170.7m for the 12 months to 21 December 2020 (2019; £169.3m). Profit before tax was £34.2m, down from £39.9m the previous year.

The company saw its cost of sales rising 6.7% from £112.7m in 2019 to £120.3m. Profit after tax was £27.6m (2019: £32.7m).

The company paid a dividend of £79.8m (2019: £2.3m) to the group’s holding company, the family-owned Cooke Aquacultur­e Inc, based in Canada.

Cooke has marine sites in Orkney and Shetland, and freshwater operations on the Scottish mainland.

More than 60% of Cooke Aquacultur­e Scotland’s turnover derives from exports to the rest of Europe, but the directors’ report says:“We have implemente­d changes to our export processes to ensure our product can be exported to the EU in an efficient and timely manner.”

It also warned, however, that Brexit continued to create “some uncertaint­y”.

On the impact of Covid-19, the directors said:“Our main markets have proven to be robust and trading continues at levels experience­d prior to the pandemic.”

Directors’ remunerati­on for the company totalled £500,947 and the highest paid individual earned £228,000.

Disposals saw the company’s fixed asset investment­s fall around £1.5m to £472,927.

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