Laxey Glen Mill made a loss of £21,000, its annual report to Tynwald will show this month.

The loss for the year was due to a contamination event without which the mill could have recorded a profit.

The mill lost a total of £21,781 throughout the 2018/19 financial year, an increase on its 2017/18 loss of £8,401 when it was said the government owned business was approaching making a profit.

In his report, then chairman Colin Kniveton, said that the loss was after an ’exceptional item which created the write-off of a volume of sales and incurred labour and other costs to rectify’.

Mr Kniveton added: ’While such occurrences are always possible in any business, this event clouded what was otherwise another satisfactory year’s progress.’

exceptional

Later in his report, Mr Kniveton revealed that the ’exceptional item’ was a contamination caused by an issue with a silo which contained grain and was transferred into flour production too.

He added: ’Once discovered, the spoilt flour was returned to the mill for disposal. Extra staff hours were required for decontamination of equipment and milling of fresh wheat to replace contaminated stocks.

’The remaining unprocessed grain was sold off for feed. The loss represents the cost of the spoilt processed flour, the additional labour costs and the loss on sale of the grain as animal feed.’

Without the £35,000 spent on the contamination event, the mill would likely have posted a profit for the year based on the accounts provided in its report.

Earlier in his report, Mr Kniveton said that the first half of the year had ’recorded a much welcomed return to trading surplus’.

However he noted that during the second half of the year ’this surplus was quickly eroded’.

Mr Kniveton, who resigned at the end of the financial year, added that it was confirmed by external auditors that the increase in amounts paid to wheat growers was ’one of the main causes’ of this.

The report to Tynwald also shows that:

â?¢ Turnover fell from £894,968 in 2017/18 to £887,605 in 2018/19.

â?¢ Costs of sales fell from £787,407 to £777, 197.

â?¢ Gross profit increased from £107,561 to £110,408.

â?¢ Distribution costs fell from £56,007 to £38,251.

â?¢ Income from investments increased from £36,201 to £38,093.