Fife vegetable supplier Kettle Produce has returned to profit despite major fire damage to the firm’s site at Orkie in April.
Turnover rose £871,000 to £93.6 million in the year to year to 29 May 2010, accounts filed at Companies House show. The company recovered from a £166,611 pre-tax loss the previous year to record a £492,848 profit this time. Operating profits were £751,162, up from £142,074 the year before.
Directors said that they were particularly pleased that trading targets continued to be met during the period and all customer orders were fulfilled after the date of the incident to the year-end.
Financial director Liz Waugh said: “This has been one of the most challenging years in the company’s history but the efforts of our staff and the support from our friends in the industry and our insurers meant our services to customers remained unaffected.
“Our business model remains intact and we are progressing with plans for the third phase of reinstatement works at Orkie and will be submitting a planning application to Fife Council shortly. Once completed, we are confident we will have the right people and the physical infrastructure required to complement our core business values of high standards and a focus on quality.”
She also said that the first quarter of the new financial year has seen reconstruction of the Orkie site well under way without any interruption to the company’s supplies.
The final phase of the works to reinstate the affected buildings is expected to be completed in the coming year.