A Northumberland malting company has reported big increases in turnover and profit after an acquisition boosted its earnings.
Berwick firm Simpsons Malt has reported turnover of £214.2m in 2021, a big increase on the £123.5m reported a year earlier. For the same period, profit before tax went up from £4.7m to £7.1m. The financial year included Simpsons’ acquisition of the grain trading business of W.N. Lindsay, which has four grain storage sites in Scotland.
The company said its merchanting division had had a mixed year, with good sales mitigated by increased haulage costs and difficulties securing wheat. But it said that the first quarter of 2021 saw its malting division reach sales volumes and margins close to pre-pandemic levels, and this was sustained throughout the year.
