A Blackburn-based toilet and kitchen roll manufacturer has reported a 52% rise in profits.
Family-run Accrol Papers reported a rise in profits to £7.2m, with turnover increasing by 26.8% to £63.5m up to the end of April.
Earlier this year, Accrol increased its storage space by 50% and opened a £6m warehouse in Blackburn, aided by a £1.4m grant from the Regional Growth Fund. The company also invested £3.4m into new equipment and hopes to pump a further £15m into new plant machinery and premises over the next year.
Due to the increase in demand, the company has hired an extra 77 staff at their factory on Roman Road Industrial Estate, Blackburn since March.
Accrol now have the capacity to make more than one million toilet rolls and over 500,000 kitchen rolls every day. Its products, including Sofcell toilet tissue, are stocked by a number of discount retailers.
Speaking at the opening of Accrol’s factory in March Business Minister Baroness Wilcox commented: “The work that has been taking place to expand production has turned the business from a SME to a UK leader in only a few short years.”
In Accrol’s recent business review the directors commented on the challenge of the rising cost of raw materials. Accrol’s strategy of dealing with the mills on a direct basis has pushed its gross profit margin from 23.4% to 26.9%.
Majid Hussain, Accrol’s MD commented: “It has been another successful year in the development of the company. On the back of customer demand we continue to expand rapidly and following the move into our new head office earlier this year we have committed to a new production facility which will be operational in 2013.”
