Carr’s commitment to Fife site re-stated after fall in profit

production: Kirkcaldy mill is investment for the long term

The owner of Carr’s Flour Mill in Kirkcaldy has given a commitment to its future.

Roger Butler, chairman of parent group Whitworth Brothers, said: “It is an important business in the Scottish food industry.

“It is also a very long established business of which we have become the custodians.

“We bought the business not in order to get a quick return but as a long-term investment.

“We have made zero changes since taking it over. The staff are still there and the job it does will continue to be done as it is an important business in the Scottish food industry and an important business to us.”

Whitworths bought Carr’s Flour Mills, covering the mills in Fife, Cumbria and Essex, for £36 million in September last year.

Accounts just published for the 12 months immediately prior to Whitworths’ takeover show Carr’s Flour Mills turnover fell 11% to £71.4 million and a pre-tax profit was down by 7.5% to £2.25m.

The lower cost of raw materials, with a large, above-average quality home grown wheat crop, resulted in lower wheat prices.

Turnover was also affected by the temporary loss of sales to a major customer during Storm Desmond.

The extreme weather caused devastation in the Carlisle area in December 2015, resulting in United Biscuits’ factory being flooded.

An insurance payment minimised the financial impact of the lost volume and by the end of the financial year volumes had almost recovered to normal.

All 80 employees at Kirkcaldy, as well as at Carr’s mills in Cumbria and Essex, transferred to Whitworths on the takeover.

The Kirkcaldy mill.