Jam and preserve maker Mackays has toasted a year of success after income from sales of its products rushed ahead by more than a sixth.
Newly-posted accounts show turnover at the firm’s Arbroath base climbed by 17% during the year to the end of December, topping £14.5 million in the year.
Pre-tax profits rose by around £7,000, or just under 2%, to £407,600, during a period in which the company won a multi-million-pound contract with Tesco.
Mackays, which boasts that it sources all its strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants from soft fruit farmers in the east of Scotland, said it aimed to sustain the growth in turnover and profit, with new lines and routes to market in the offing.
“The directors hope to be able to maintain this performance in the coming year with the introduction and development of new products and new markets,” said the board in a report lodged at Companies House.
The firm, which employs 140 people, also revealed that the majority of last year’s growth had come in the domestic market.
Around 65% of its sales came from products which were shipped to the UK, with exports to more than 50 countries, including far-flung territories like Saudi Arabia, Peru and Kazakhstan, accounting for the remainder.
It unveiled the new tie-up with Tesco in August, with managing director Martin Grant admitting at the time that the contract was “quite a big deal”.
The agreement increased the number of Mackays lines carried by 700 stores outside Scotland from three to 10 and was expected to take overall production of jams, Dundee and other marmalades and chutneys to 20 million jars a year from 2013.
The results continue a meteoric rise in the company’s fortunes since it relocated to a purpose-built facility, featuring traditional open copper pans for jam-making, in 2008.
Then, turnover stood at just over £8.5m, but the figure has increased by more than 10% in each successive year. The continued growth in revenues has been supported by the increased manufacturing capacity and flexibility at the new plant.
Future orders could lead to the addition of a new shift and more jobs at the site.
Mackays was founded in Carnoustie in 1938 by the brothers of the same name, before being sold to United Biscuits in 1970. The large food group’s primary interest was in securing the supply of jam used for their ring biscuits.
But United Biscuits executive Paul Grant snapped up the firm in 1995, revitalising its fortunes and transforming it into an award-winning company. The Courier Business Awards judge is now a “very active” chairman of the company, with son Martin at the helm.