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 firm Lunar thrives on higher mackerel prices

North-east Atlantic mackerel.
North-east Atlantic mackerel.

Lunar Fishing Company, of Peterhead, has reported a boost to turnover and an even bigger jump in profits, thanks to higher mackerel prices.

The firm, which is owned by shareholders including Alex Buchan and his family, said pre-tax profits more than doubled to £23.2million last year.

This was from £9.6million in 2015.

Turnover soared to nearly £82milllion in the latest period, from £74.8million previously.

Lunar – whose activities span fish processing, vessel management and the provision of freezing and cold-storage facilities – said it also received a boost from foreign exchange gains totalling £2.61million.

The figures have emerged in accounts from Companies House showing Lunar employed 283 people on average last year, about the same as in 2015.

A review of business in the accounts said: “Turnover and gross profit increased significantly during the year under review due to an increase in mackerel prices.

“Gross profit increased from £15.47million to £22million. Net operating profit increased by 54.59% to £17.62million, representing a satisfactory trading performance for the year.”

It added: “The commercial environment in the market for pelagic and white-fish products continues to be buoyant and the group is well-placed to take advantage of this, having made substantial investment in both the catching and processing sectors of the industry.”

Lunar said the key business risks and uncertainties facing it were fluctuating demand for fish products, changes in annual quota allocations, mackerel and herring market prices and competition from other fish processors.

The company did not respond to calls yesterday.

Lunar supplies herring, mackerel and white-fish products from operations in Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Aberdeen.

The company’s fleet of articulated units, refrigerated trailers and tankers takes temperature controlled products from fishing vessels to processing factories and then on to customers across the UK and mainland Europe, with regular delivery runs to Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Lunar also operates seven fishing vessels, including the Lunar Bow, Pathway and Kings Cross pelagic trawlers, the Harvester and Ocean Harvest white-fish boats, the Dual Venture purse seiner in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the white-fish seiner Tranquility.

In addition, the company owns quota for herring, mackerel, blue whiting and white-fish.