Mole Valley Farmers has announced an increase in revenue over the previous year to £426 million, despite challenging trading conditions relating to reduced farm incomes and unseasonal weather early in the year that affected sales in seasonal product categories. Mole Valley Farmers chief executive Andrew Jackson said that demand for many agricultural products had been subdued throughout the year, particularly within the dairy sector, as farming customers became increasingly anxious about the milk price outlook and cut back expenditure on non-essential farm requisites.

However, MVF saw growth in the second half of the year in established product categories. This resulted in overall like-for-like customer transactions increasing significantly over the previous year. The business also made changes aimed at modernising business processes to make efficiency savings.

The group pre-tax profit for the year ending 30th September 2016 increased to £2.3m – up £1.2m on the year. The company closed the year with net assets of £47 million – up 4% on the previous year – and Mr Jackson said that footfall numbers had grown to record levels.

In the year, the business saw:

• Farmer shareholder numbers increase to 8,487.
  • New manufactured farm buildings sales increase by 9%.
  • A 10% increase in ruminant feed volume.
  • A 15% increase in visitors to its online retail site.
  • Overall capital investment totalling £3.2 million, which included the acquisition of the established feed business A. Nichols Cow Mills Ltd.