Airdrie based potato firm, Albert Bartlett’s latest accounts show their operating profit was affected by price pressures in the supply chain. Although sales increased by 18 per cent to £146 million in the year ending 31 May 2017, their operating profit fell last year from £2 to £1.8 million. The company’s operating profit in the 2015 financial year was £8 million.
This fall is attributed partly to start-up costs with its frozen foods operation in Norfolk which started in 2015 with three lines but has since been doubled to six. The pre-tax profit of £1.8 million included a £1.3 million foreign exchange gain on inter-company loans. International sales for the group totalled £900,000 with sales to the Netherlands, France, Czech Republic and the USA.
Sara Miller, Bartlett’s finance director, told The Herald newspaper in Scotland that the company would continue to work closely with its group of more than 100 growers across the UK (including Jersey) to ensure they adapted to the “challenging retail environment”.