Poor potato harvest affects profits of McCain UK

Poor potato harvests last year led to a 63% drop in profits for frozen foods specialist McCain UK, the company has revealed.

The company’s operating profits fell from £57.6 million to £21.3 million, newly-released figures show.

Low temperatures and heavy snowfall in 2018, followed by a dry summe,r led to one of the weakest potato crops in more than 40 years, a company statement said, adding that it remained optimistic about the future.

The statement continued: “We continue to work closely with growers to help them mitigate the extreme weather we have been experiencing and recent challenges caused by Covid-19 to ensure we fulfil our contracts, maximise the usable crop and maintain the quality of our products and the sustainability of British agriculture.”