ONE OF the UK's biggest independent maltsters, Simpsons Malt, has reported a solid set of results for 2015, resulting in a profit of £9.9m, which was £0.5m down on the previous year.

The family-owned business, including the agricultural trading division, McCreath, Simpson and Prentice, credited increasing sales into the global brewing industry and continuing strong demand from distilling customers as the backbone of its success.

Simpsons Malt, which is based in Berwick-upon-Tweed, with another malting plant at Tivetshall St Margaret, in Norfolk, continued to invest heavily in the business spending £6.9m – almost £2m more than the previous year – mainly on specialty malt production infrastructure and packaging facilities.

Since 2006, the family-owned company has invested £70m at both plants.

Its managing director, Tim McCreath, said: "A strong home market for malt coupled with increased exports continue to drive the business, with sales surpassing the record high volumes achieved in 2014. The prospects for our malting business remain positive as we aim to benefit from the steady growth in the specialised and increasingly global craft brewing market."

The merchanting division, MSP, experienced a challenging year as a result of tightened profit margins in the agricultural sector.