Fane Valley reports profits

Fane Valley Co-operative, a Northern Irish dairy and meat processor, saw turnover grow by 17% and pre-tax profits by 50% last year. The group, based at Armagh, achieved a rise in sales to £534 million (€647.1m) and profits to almost £9 million for the year ended 30 September 2013. Fane Valley has meat processing operations in Northern Ireland, Linden Foods, and Slaney Foods in the Republic, along with a dairy export business in Banbridge, county Down. Group chief executive Trevor Lockhart describes the performance as being ‘extremely pleasing’ with all divisions making a significant contribution to the year-end result. He added that the Fane Valley Group continued to develop in a ‘very positive way’. The improved performance was also reflected in a 15% increase in the net assets of the company.

Lockhart adds: “In Fane Valley Dairies we maintained our focus on increasing the proportion of milk supplied directly from supplier farms. During the year 100 million litres were added to our growing pool. A further 50 million litres has been added since the September year-end with the overall volume now surpassing our objectives.”