Baker Finsbury Food today said a new acquisition had helped it almost double half-year profits despite a "challenging" period in the grocery sector amid the supermarket price war.

Finsbury, which employs around 1,100 Scots at facilities in Hamilton and Twechar, East Dunbartonshire, said its pre-tax profit jumped 95 per cent to £4.1 million in the six months to December 27.

That was aided by its £56m purchase of Sheffield-based Fletchers Group of Bakeries in October. Revenue rose 24.1 per cent to £107.6m also driven by successful Christmas trading and strong revenues from its licence agreement to make cakes linked to Disney animated film Frozen. Like-for-like sales were up 5.6 per cent.

Finsbury Food said it had bought Fletchers to expand its presence in buns, muffins, scones and baguettes. It added that the results for this period include two months of trading from Fletchers.

Both firms are major suppliers to the country's biggest supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

The group said: "Whilst the UK grocery market continues to be challenging, the wider economic environment is slowly improving."

It said it delivered a good first half performance, and expected this to continue into the second half of the year as it completes the integration of Fletchers which would deliver costs savings.

Finsbury Food chief executive John Duffy said: "We have seen notable growth, both organically and through the Fletchers acquisition, which is integrating well."

"We look forward to the remainder of the year with confidence and, despite a tough trading environment, we believe the group is in a strong position to deliver on our growth strategy."

Through its divisions Memory Lane Cakes and Lightbody, Finsbury is the second largest supplier of cake to the UK's supermarkets, with a 20 per cent share of the total pre-packed cake market.

It believes its takeover of Fletchers will allow it to boost its presence in UK supermarkets as well as restaurants, coffee shops, bars and fast food outlets.