According to accounts filed at Companies House, pre-tax profits at the Forfar business rose from £3 mil-lion to £5.6m in 2011. That came as turnover increased from £55.3m to £60.9m mainly due to higher value of sales in the UK.

The company, which can trace its roots to 1792 but has been part of Thrace Plastics since 1999, makes products including carpet backing, yarns and construction fabrics.

In notes to the accounts, the directors said: "The group faced economic and market challenges throughout the year. These have created uncertainty particularly in relation to the level of demand for the group's products.

"The directors have responded to this situation by thorough budgeting, a comprehensive review of the group's cost structure and recovery of unavoid-able cost increases.

"The directors consider the results for the year to represent a good performance in difficult trading conditions."

Directors' emoluments declined from £1.3m to £708,000 with the highest paid dropping from £896,000 to £245,000.Overall payroll costs dropped from £13.7m to £13.4m even though average staff numbers were steady at 447.

A dividend of £450,000 was paid compared to £750,000 in 2010.

While the directors do not expect an improvement this year, they expect another strong result.

They added: "The policies and procedures that are in place mean the directors remain confident that the group's budgeted performance will be achieved."