St James Smokehouse profits up

Thanks to some impressive cost savings, St James Smokehouse was able to increase its profits during 2020, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

The Annan-based company has just published its accounts for the full year 2020, the most recent period for which detailed figures are available, which show pre-tax profits of £1.581m against 1.405m in 2019.

Profit after tax was £1.29m compared to £1.14m a year earlier. This was achieved despite a drop in income during 2020, falling from £14.28m in 2019 to £13.44m.

But during this difficult period, St James managed to reduce its sales costs from £11.86m in 2019 to £10.92m in 2020 and its administrative expenses from £1.2m to £1.12m over the same period.

In fact 2020 had been going well during the first quarter with sales increasing – but then coronavirus spread across the world, leading to widespread shutdowns.

The company said that the first quarter of 2021 had seen increased revenues for the business and this had continued throughout the year, especially for UK sales and filleting income.

Launched in 2003, St James Smokehouse (Scotland) Ltd is based in Annan and is one of the world’s few remaining family-owned smokehouses. It has a sister company with a purpose build facility in Miami, Florida.

The business produces high quality premium grade trout and salmon, both cold and hot smoked, from RSPCA-approved Scottish providers.

Principal markets include the UK and 16 countries in Europe plus eight more in Australia, Asia, North America and the Caribbean.

It says all of its products are sourced from nationally sourced ingredients under the flagship brand “Scotch Reserve”.

The company holds 49 Great Taste Award gold medals plus 16 more gold medals from the internationally renowned Monde Selection organisation.