Accounts for Pauls Malt, which is part of the Boortmalt group and has sites at Buckie and Glenesk, Montrose, show a slight rise in pre-tax profits to £9.875 million for the year to June 30, 2020. This is up from £9.725m the year before.

The firm, which also has sites at Knapton in North Yorkshire and Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, posted a 7.5% drop in turnover for the year to £120.951m, from £130.729m previously.

The accounts, filed with Companies House, reveal the bulk of sales were in the UK accounting for £82.157m of turnover – down 20% on the year before.

Sales to the rest of Europe increased by 210% to £24.942m, from £8.046m, while sales to the rest of the world, Africa and Asia decreased to £407,000, £552,000 and £12.893m respectively.

In his report accompanying the accounts, Pauls Malt director Charles Tozer said the fiscal year started well with continued strong performance in the UK and export markets, however the Covid-19 pandemic overshadowed this.

“From late February onwards, we experienced a downturn in demand as the global on-trade and travel retail gradually slowed,” said Mr Tozer.

“From the end of March, there was a shut-down in the UK HORECA [hospitality] sector and whilst many breweries rapidly reorientated their production to the off-trade, malt consumption was reduced in the final quarter of the fiscal year by some 25%.”

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