National Milk Records, the Chippenham-based company providing milk recording services to half of the UK’s dairy farmers, made pre-tax profits of £408,000 on turnover up 3.9% at £8.6m, its half-year figures to September 30 show.
But the firm warned that full-year profits are likely to be affected by significant investment in new projects and re-organisation costs linked to its new laboratory being built at in Staffordshire.
It said these costs would deliver additional revenue in the future and pointed out that new revenue streams apart from milk records were coming on stream.
These include a new joint venture in Ireland, which completed its operational set up phase and traded profitably over the summer, and the launch of new testing service through its National Milk Laboratories and used by Marks and Spencer, which differentiates between saturated and unsaturated fat. This could be vital for dairy farmers if a ‘fat tax’ is introduced on milk.
Chairman Philip Kirkham said: “The outlook for NMR remains positive for future revenue and margin growth. NMR remains profitable and we continue to achieve increased turnover year on year, although we look forward to building upon this in the future.”
