Carr's Milling plans £2.5m move into US
Nov 10 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal
CARR'S Milling is poised to invest £2.5m in an animal feed plant in the US as it shrugs off a difficult year where the volatile fertiliser market led to a 45% plunge in annual profits.
The Carlisle group, which has interests ranging from agriculture to food and engineering, said fertiliser – the previous year’s ‘star performer’ – dragged pre-tax profits down to £7m from £12.9m in 2008. Both the selling price and the volumes sold reduced.
The profits, for the year to August 29, were still more than a quarter higher than 2007’s £5.5m. But revenue was also down by 6% year-on-year to £350m.
Carr’s chief executive Chris Holmes, said: “It’s what we were expecting in the marketplace, given what happened with fertiliser. To handle any volatility is very difficult for anyone to contend with.”
The group’s fertiliser interests account for around 12% of its revenue and Mr Holmes said he is expecting the fluctuating market – which meant many farmers held off buying fertiliser this year as they waited for prices to drop – to stabilise.
He said: “We’re expecting a normal usage of fertiliser. There are signs of nitrogen prices moving upwards.
“We are also excited as we’ve launched a new product Avail – a phosphorous enhancer The results of trials have demonstrated better profitability and better yields.”
