Scottish Milk profits up

3 July 1998

Scottish Milk profits up

SCOTTISH Milk made a surplus of £702,000 after tax in the year to Mar 31, 1998, up 70% on the previous 12 months.

This capital was transferred to reserves to pay for assets taken over on vesting day.

This helped the Scottish Milk Group – which includes Scottish Milk Products, Livestock Services and a 36% holding in Drakemire Dairy Foods – record an after-tax surplus of £1.62m.

The period was a "watershed" in the de-regulated milk era, with weak markets and the strong pound pushing prices down, said the co-op.

The price it paid for "standard" milk of 4.10% butterfat and 3.30% protein fell from 22.25p/litre at the start of the year to 20.37p/litre at the end.