LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Norish reported a jump in interim profits on Friday as a drop in revenue was more than offset by the effects of tight cost controls.
The cold storage company said profit before tax came in at £1.3m for the six months ended 30 June, a 43% increase compared to the same period last year, as cost of sales was cut by 7% to £15.8m.

Tight cost controls in the cold storage division resulted in divisional profits growing by 23%, while operating margins expanded from 17.9% to 21.6%.

However, total revenue fell 5% to £17.5m as revenue from the sourcing division dropped 16% to £9.8m.

This more than offset 10% revenue growth to £7.3m from the cold store division and 100% growth to £0.4m at the dairy business.

In the remaining six months of the year, Norish said it will continue to focus on improving cold storage revenue generation, while also pursuing initiatives to offset underlying cost growth pressures.

Further growth initiatives will be sought for the sourcing division as it looks to return to a growth trajectory, while the company said a "much-improved result" is expected from the diary division after a very good year for grass production.

Norish shares were unchanged at 63.00p at 1256 BST.

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE