WELLINGTON cheese company Somerdale has announced increased pre-tax profits of £2.2 million during the past year.

Somerdale International Ltd, which is now in its 34th year of operation and exports British cheese to more than 50 countries around the globe, has published its report and accounts for the year ended March 31, 2023.

Despite challenging trading conditions the results were in line with expectations and in the current year the business is continuing to grow and develop.

The company faced a difficult year as rising inflation, linked in particular to the war in Ukraine, had driven input costs higher.

But Somerdale worked hard to overcome those challenges and there was a strong demand for premium speciality cheese which performed particularly well in the USA and Australia.

Turnover during the year increased to £53.8 million – up from £44.3 million in 2022. Profit before tax increased to £2.2 million – up from £1.56 million.

During the year the business continued to build for the future with investment in both its people, premises and production capabilities.

This included a significant expansion in its chilled warehousing capacity at its headquarters at Westpark in Wellington, the taking on of two new trainee apprentices and continued investment in state of the art packing and IT equipment.

Somerdale finance director Trevor Debenham said: “During the 2022-23 financial year despite significant global economic headwinds the business performed in line with expectations.

"While at the same time, we continued to put in place the building blocks for our long term growth and development through investing in our people, premises, and production capabilities.

“In the current financial year, trading remains satisfactory with in particular sales in our core international markets growing both in volume and value terms.

“We remain optimistic about the long term prospects for the export of high quality British dairy products and are encouraged by the progress we are making in relation to the development of emerging markets such as China, South East Asia, and the Middle East.

“Moving forward, we remain committed to offering our growing number of international customers a comprehensive range of the very best British cheeses, brands and packaging formats complemented by service excellence.”