Profit and turnover up at Wyke Farms

Cheesemaker Wyke Farms made a pre-tax profit of £4.1m for the financial year ending 31 March 2021.

This represents a 28% (£900,000) rise in pre-tax profit for the family-run firm, where turnover increased by £7.7m on the previous year to total £114.8m.

In 2021, cheese production and dairy farming accounted for £106.8m of total turnover, while the renewable energy side of the business accounted for the remaining £8m, according to the annual report.

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Looking at turnover by destination, the UK accounted for £92m of sales and the rest of the world for £22.8m.

The business has had good growth in exports both to the EU and the rest of the world, according to the strategic report.

Rich Clothier, managing director, said: “We have been seeing more markets opening up, in more countries across the world. We are increasingly selling more older, long-aged cheeses into these markets and have continued to increase our cheddar maturing stocks to service this growing sales mix.”

Wyke Farms has invested in Ivy’s Dairy, a new cheese facility which is expected to increase the wider businesses cheese capacity by 50,000 tonnes a year.

Butter sales have grown in the past year, with increased sales of the firm’s premium Somerset Farmhouse range.

The West Country-based cheesemaker also has a partnership with organic milk supplier Omsco to produce organic cheese and butter products for the domestic and export markets.

Renewable energy

Wyke Farms has also made further investment into renewable energy sources such as solar panels and biogas.

Mr Clothier said: “As we enter the new financial year, we have continued to invest in more solar arrays and heat recovery plant to drive efficiency and lower environmental impact.

“We have also invested in remote storage locations to hold nutrient-rich digestate, the spent material from our AD plant.

“This will enable us to use this nutrient-rich organic fertiliser on more farms in the region and displace artificial fertiliser unlocking the environmental benefits and saving costs for many local farmers.”