Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east egg processor blames retail pressure for fall in profits

Robert and Iain Chapman
Robert and Iain Chapman

The largest egg producer in the north-east – Farmlay Eggs – has blamed a squeeze on the retail market for a 40% drop in pre-tax profits.

The company, which is run by Robert and Ethel Chapman and their son Iain, supplies all the free-range eggs to Morrisons and Aldi in Scotland.

Around half of the eggs are produced on the family’s 1,800-acre farm, with the remainder sourced from 19 contract producers in Aberdeenshire, Moray and as far north as Wick.

Accounts filed with Companies House reveal that Farmlay, under its registered name Aberdeen and Northern Eggs Limited, posted pre-tax profits of £1.514million for the year ended May 31, 2014. This was down nearly 40% on 2013 when pre-tax profits stood at £2.507million.

Turnover at the company, which is based at West Cockmuir, Strichen, near Fraserburgh, was also down in the year to £15.866million, from £17.383million previously.

The firm, which sorts and packs between 3.5million and 4million eggs every week, said the drop in turnover and profits was mainly due to a squeeze in the retail market.

In her director’s report, Ethel Chapman said: “In the near future we expect the squeeze in the retail market to continue. To combat this it is hoped to launch two new packs into Morrisons and Tesco under the new brand ‘Nearer Fresher’ which will focus on local eggs from the Scottish countryside and the Highlands of Scotland.”

The accounts also reveal expansion plans for the company this year.

These include the building of a new free range henhouse for 16,000 birds by March, and the creation of a new rearing unit for 55,000 day old chicks in line with the increase in laying bird numbers.

The Chapmans also plan to apply for funding under the processing and marketing grant scheme, which is part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme, to upgrade the oldest part of the packing centre.

Mrs Chapman said: “The extension will increase the floor area by a further 45% for storage of both packaging and eggs. We would hope this would be in place by late 2015.”

She said 97.5% of the profit had been retained and reinvested in the business with a dividend of only £28,500 paid out in the year.

Speaking to the Press and Journal, Robert Chapman said: “The supermarkets are just squeezing and squeezing prices; it’s as simple as that. They are looking for suppliers to discount prices so that’s what has affected the profit and turnover.

“This year it’s much the same; the retail market has not changed much.”

He said the company aimed to have the new Nearer Fresher range on supermarket shelves by the spring and said the reari