Scottish farm machinery dealer Agricar enjoyed a boost in profits and turnover last year despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 crisis.
The latest accounts for the Forfar-headquartered company, which specialises in New Holland machinery, show increased sales and profits in the year to December 31, 2020.
The accounts, filed with Companies House, show turnover of £36.4 million for the year – up from £35.2m the year before.
The bulk of sales were to the UK – accounting for just over £36m of turnover – and sales to Europe more than doubled to £389,447, from £163.103 before.
Pre-tax profits were also up 18% in the year to £393,273, from £332.792 previously.
In her report accompanying the accounts, company director Wendy Smith said: “2020 was an exceptionally challenging trading year due to the additional difficulties encountered as a result of Covid-19.
“However, as a family business we continued to supply our customers with premium product supported by our highly skilled team.”
She said the company’s gross profit percentage remained comparable to other years at 13% – it was 13.1% in 2019.
The company runs depots in Blairgowrie, Dundonald in Ayrshire, Forfar, Laurencekirk, Perth and Stirling.
As well as operating a franchise for New Holland machinery, it specialises in a number of other machinery brands including Kuhn, Ploeger, Standen and Polaris.
The accounts also reveal the company employed an average of 113 members of staff during the year and the highest-paid unnamed director took home a pay cheque of £113.541 – this is up from £101,788 the year before.
Agricar‘s latest accounts cover a year of reduced tractor sales across the UK.
Previous figures from the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA) show Scottish tractor sales were down by 17% last year.
The number of new tractors, over 50 horsepower, registered in Scotland in 2020 was 1,252 – down from 1,518 in 2019.
Sales across the UK were down 13.8% to 10,380, from 12,040 the year before.