Simon Howie boosts profits to over £4.4m despite ‘staggering’ costs increase
Simon Howie
Perthshire-based Simon Howie Butchers has seen its pre-tax profits rise to more than £4.4 million despite a “staggering” rise in energy bills.
According to the latest accounts filed for the company sales and profits both rose, with turnover reaching £24.1m for the year to December 2022 signalling a £2.5m rise from 2021. The £4.4m pre-tax profits is an increase from the previous year’s figure of £4.1m.
Last year, Simon Howie stated that the business had endured a 10-fold rise in its energy bills, the Courier reports.
Mr Howie blamed “geopolitical issues” for the steep increase in utilities, adding that the UK government’s energy strategy has left the business “at the mercy of the world indices”.
He said: “The profiteering by the energy generators and wholesalers has been staggering to see in action, with gas and electricity prices now at unprecedented levels.”
He revealed this had prompted the company to invest in renewable power generation.
Commenting on the latest results, Mr Howie said: “We are very happy with the performance of the business in the past 12 months. We’ve had a lot of cost pressures and we’ve been working hard on pushing out our geographical spread.”
He concluded: “We’re not sure where profitability will land, but we’re more than 20% up this year so far, so the picture looks good.”
Simon Howie
Perthshire-based Simon Howie Butchers has seen its pre-tax profits rise to more than £4.4 million despite a “staggering” rise in energy bills.
According to the latest accounts filed for the company sales and profits both rose, with turnover reaching £24.1m for the year to December 2022 signalling a £2.5m rise from 2021. The £4.4m pre-tax profits is an increase from the previous year’s figure of £4.1m.
Last year, Simon Howie stated that the business had endured a 10-fold rise in its energy bills, the Courier reports.
Mr Howie blamed “geopolitical issues” for the steep increase in utilities, adding that the UK government’s energy strategy has left the business “at the mercy of the world indices”.
He said: “The profiteering by the energy generators and wholesalers has been staggering to see in action, with gas and electricity prices now at unprecedented levels.”
He revealed this had prompted the company to invest in renewable power generation.
Commenting on the latest results, Mr Howie said: “We are very happy with the performance of the business in the past 12 months. We’ve had a lot of cost pressures and we’ve been working hard on pushing out our geographical spread.”
He concluded: “We’re not sure where profitability will land, but we’re more than 20% up this year so far, so the picture looks good.”