Blue Skies Holdings has upped its pre-tax profit by nearly £1 million.
The fruit business, which sells to retail and foodservice customers, increased its pre-tax profit from £2.1m to £3m in the year ending 28 December 2014.
Turnover, meanwhile, increased from £50.7m to £60.4m.
Speaking in the report accompanying the accounts, Jenny Pile, one of the directors at the Northamptonshire-headquarted firm, which has a network of factories across Africa and South America, said that Blue Skies believes its 'fresh from harvest' policy of preparing fruit as close as possible to the time it is picked and flying it to market using scheduled passenger aircraft part-explains why the firm has 'outpaced its competitors'.
The latest accounts - posted at Companies House - highlight that Blue Skies is one of fresh produce's most noteworthy success stories in recent years, having grown its turnover and pre-tax profit at a similar rate for the last three financial years.
Pile said: 'Since the company began in 1997, Blue Skies has maintained the objective of developing a business based on a network of factories around the world to deliver the highest-quality fresh fruit products to meet ever-more demanding European consuer needs for a healthy diet.
'The board developed a business moel which has enabled it to pursue clearly-focused strategies in the pursuit of this objective. The Joint Effort Enterprise model has worked emphatically well in Africa and South America in binding everyone within the business with its suppliers and customers towards a unique value chain that benefits all.
'Since 2010, the board has used its improved profitability to invest in the people of Blue Skies and its infrastructure. The directors continue to keep a tight control on gearing, but have managed during 2014 to commence the building of a new factory in West Africa and modest expansions to operations in South Africa and Brazil. In 2015, the plan is to continue enhancement of our capacity to meet ambitious sales targets in both regional and international markets.'
However, Blue Skies admits that it has struggled with difficulties in its operations in Brazil, a country in which 'it is not easy to do business.' Nevertheless, Pile said the board is looking to support the operation and return it to profitability.
