BROWNS Food Group has almost doubled its profits as it benefited from solid growth across its portfolio of businesses.

Accounts filed at Companies House for 2012 show turnover surged 13% from £104.3 million to £117.5m, mainly due to UK sales rising 12.5% from £103m to £115.9m.

That helped pre-tax profits at the Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, business grow 87% from £3.2m to almost £6m.

Browns includes a number of brands under its umbrella include Tarbert Fine Foods, sausage-maker Belchers of Ayrshire, Lanarkshire smoked salmon firm Lion Speciality, East Lothian based poultry supplier Fenton Barns and Lairds Fine Foods.

In March last year, £350,000 was spent buying The Scottish Gourmet business, based in the town of Biggar, which specialises in the home delivery of meals.

Earlier this year, Browns acquired the Hall's brand, created in 1932, and van delivery service from Vion for an undisclosed sum, which preserved the jobs of dozens of drivers.

The deal included the rights to products such as haggis, black pudding and Wee Willie Winkie sausages, with those now made at Browns' plants across Scotland.

Browns finance director Alan Hill said: "That brand is very well known and loved across Scotland.

"We have not promoted it heavily yet but we have got the manufacturing settled into our sites in North Berwick and Prestwick.

"It has been good but there is more to come."

Writing in the 2012 accounts, the directors of Browns said they were pleased with the overall performance of the group in spite of "continuing difficult and competitive market conditions".

Mr Hill said raw material prices are continuing to increase and it is difficult to pass that on to customers.

He said Browns had invested in technology, including packaging equipment and up-to-date assembly lines to make its operations as efficient as possible.

The closure of Hall's in Broxburn, West Lothian, with the loss of 1700 jobs and the Freshlink sausage factory in Glasgow, where more than 140 were made redundant, in the past year are thought to have led to more sales opportunities for other firms.

However, Mr Hill attributed the Browns performance to good underlying performance at all its businesses.

He highlighted Brown Brothers and the Borders Gourmet and Tarbert brands as among the strongest performers.

Mr Hill said: "We are seeing good organic growth but we are looking at acquisitions as well.

"We have a good relationship with the bank."

Browns provides processed meats, poultry and seafood for a range of customers including supermarkets such as Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco.

The accounts show average staff numbers increased from 745 to 766 in 2012 which led to employee costs rising more than £1m to £15m.

Directors' emoluments, including pension payments, rose from £362,000 to £382,000.

The highest paid saw their aggregate rewards increase from £144,000 to £156,000.

Browns reduced its interest payments from more than £1m to £829,000 mainly due to lower charges on its overdraft.

Net debt reduced slightly from £21.16m to £20.5m.

Equity dividends were steady at £380,000, with the accounts showing directors receiving £214,000, down from £253,000. Members of the Godfrey family, which controls Browns, working in the business who were not employed as directors received £163,000, up from £123,000.

Brown was founded in 1885 when the family of the same name opened a butcher shop in Biggar and began distributing products by horse and cart.

The Godfrey family bought this business in the 1980s when there were just six members of staff.

In the early 1990s, manufacturing was moved to a new factory in Dumfriesshire allowing for new frozen and chilled products to be added.

In subsequent years, Browns has added to its portfolio of businesses and also owns its own logistics company and cold storage facility.