Processor loses £400k
A Dingwall-based salmon processor has announced losses of £407,114 for the year ending March 2015.
The Edinburgh Salmon Company (ESC), which processes a range of seafood, including salmon, had made a profit of nearly £1.2 million in the previous 12 months.
ESC's strategic report says it suffered "difficult trading conditions" over the year, but its accounts reveal that it paid out a £1.5m dividend to shareholders in the period in question. It also spent close to £90,000 on R&D activities in a bid to boost future sales.
ESC is owned by the French firm Mer Invest, whose parent company is the Thai seafood giant TUF, and supplies retailers around the UK with seafood, mainly salmon, with an emphasis on offering the fish in smoked, cooked and ready-to-eat formats.
The company’s turnover fell from £49 to £41.5 million. Of the latter figure just under £1m of products were exported to Europe, while the rest were sold within the UK.
The number of people employed by the company fell from 231 in the 12 months up to March 2014, to 219 in the 12 months in question.
