FOURTH generation grain and animal feed producer W&R Barnett has had another stellar trading year in which it increased sales, profits and staff numbers, retaining its position in an elite cohort of Northern Ireland companies with a £1 billion-plus turnover.
Sales at the company - which was founded in 1896 as a grain merchant but which now has interests in oils and molasses as well as packaging, animal feeds, storage and horse breeding - rose to £1.36 billion in the year to last July.
Its bottom line profits lifted from £40.7m to £41.7 million, according to accounts filed at Companies House.
And its staff numbers also from 1,567 to 1,613 during a year in which the company again doubled its charitable donations from £89,695 to £190,000.
As it has done in recent years, Barnett has invested significantly in the businesses it owns, but the growth of its business in general has been acquisition-led, and it continued on that trend in the last year.
Just before its year-end it acquired 13.33 per cent of the issued shares of Logson Holdings Ltd for £12.5m, bringing its holding there to 73.33 per cent.
The group holds a 16.7 per cent equity investment in Belfast Towage after upping its stake from 12.5 per cent with an investment of £120,000 over the year.
The services provided by Belfast Towage are of significant importance to Barnett in conducting its grain trading operations through Belfast Harbour.
The group also paid £1.9 million to acquire 50 per cent of the share capital of Andean Life LLC, a company registered in the USA.
But it also disposed of a 12.5 per cent investment in McCorkelly Holdings and a 50 per cent stake in The Mauritius Molasses Company.
The Barnett business - which includes enterprises covering dry bulk commodities, derivatives, molasses, oils, feed mills, corrugated packaging, laboratory testing and storage - saw its wages bill rise over the year from £63.7m to £68.9m.
The accounts reveal that part of those costs was a £925,000 guaranteed minimum pension charge, which arose following a High Court ruling which confirmed that the group's pension scheme contained inequalities, which is has now amended.
The directors were paid more than £3.3m during the year, with the highest-paid of them earning £709,000.
In the strategic report accompanying the company accounts, the directors described the level of business during the year and the financial position at the year-end as “satisfactory”, and pledged to continue to press for growth.
The directors pledged to continue investing in "people, product development, facilities and suitable acquisitions in order to ensure its ongoing development".
The report, penned before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, added: "The group is well-placed to manage its business risks successfully despite the continued uncertain economic outlook."
The figures also showed that the directors recommended the payment of a final dividend of £1.47 million.
