Cereals firm reports profits fall
The Northumberland-based company saw turnover fall to £18.9M for the year to April 30 2017, compared with £20.4M for the previous year.
Pre-tax profits fell to £605,992 from £730,529 the previous year.
The Berwick-upon-Tweed family-owned business specialises in premium-quality cereal and seed ingredients.
Volume drop
In its results the company announced a 4% drop in volume through the business, combined with a lower cost for raw materials.
The company said the level of business had been stable for a number of years despite “difficult trading conditions”.
It had focused on a small number of established customers and was “aware of the potential risk of this strategy”. But it said the customer base had remained loyal to the company and, combined with strong working relationships, the directors considered the strategy “low risk”.
However, it admitted there was pressure to remain price-competitive within its existing customer base.
“Despite the low risk, the company has increased the sales department headcount and will continue to develop new sales leads and customers, with a view to reducing the risk of over-reliance on a small number of key customers,” it said.
Continuous improvement
Silvery Tweed Cereals added that it would continue to invest in ongoing improvement activities to enable the company to become more profitable.
Last year, the company completed a £250K upgrade to the cooling equipment at its Berwick-upon-Tweed plant.
Its principal activity is the milling, blending and costing of a wide range of food ingredients, including barley, wheat, spelt, rye, oats, rice, maize, granola, muesli and seeds.
