CO Antrim quarrying firm Kilwaughter Chemical Co has reported a "satisfactory" last trading year after seeing both its turnover and pre-tax profit rise in the 12 months to April.
The company, established in 1939, is involving in limestone quarrying and mineral process and operates from a 75-acre site in Larne.
Turnover in the year increased by 11 per cent from £22.6m to £25.1m, while Kilwaughter reports a profit before tax of £6.8m, which eclipsed the 2014 figure of £6.5m.
Its gross profit continued its upwards trend, rising by nearly four per cent from £5.6m to £5.8m, and followed on from a 66 per cent rise the year before that.
According to its financial statement filed with Companies House in Belfast, Kilwaughter is sitting on net assets of £31.7m against £27.9m in 2013/2014.
The Kilwaughter business portfolio focuses on specific industries including construction through its marketing leading K Rend division, the UK’s largest independent silicone render manufacturer, and to industry and agriculture via its Larne quarry, where its product lines include the much sought after ‘Co Antrim white limestone’ used throughout Ireland.
Another subsidiary company is Kilwaughter Cork, a leading supplier of materials to the construction and landscaping industries in the Republic, where its range incorporates paving, furniture, planters, building stone, water features and landscaping products.
The company, which is in the principal ownership of the McDowell family, employed 106 people in the year of reporting, up slightly on the previous year and which led to its staff costs rising from £3.5m to just shy of £4m.
The directors' salary packages rose from £552,362 to £662,263, with the highest-paid director receiving £284,812 (it was £222,267 in 2014).
