East Kilbride-based Merson Signs has seen profits more than halve in what it says was a year of consolidation after 75 per cent growth in sales in 2013.
Merson employs most of its 235 staff in Scotland and has a five-year plan to grow the business organically after an acquisition in 2012 and a major contract for Lloyds bank the following year.
Last year it saw turnover dip by 12 per cent from £26.6million to £23.4m, its operating profit was more than halved to £631,855 and its pre-tax profit slid from £1.12m to £532,632.
The business, founded in 1938, has been owned by its current management since 2005. It paid no dividend in 2013 but recorded a £720,000 payout last year.
Writing in the accounts just posted at Companies House, the directors say the year saw the integration of CGL Systems, which designs and manufactures cladding and rainwater management systems for the construction industry, and the rationalisation of its property portfolio. Profit margisn tumbled from 4.9per cent to 2.8per cent.
"The principal risks facing the business relate to demand in the market and we have witnessed clients delaying or reducing their anticipated spend as they react to changes in the economic environment."
The retail and banking sectors had seen most disruption while construction and infrastructure had remained strong.
"Despite the uncertainties our turnover projection for 2015 is strong and we have identified a number of new trading opportunities, some of which are now contracted."
Construction projects were under pressure, having been tendered by main contractors during the recession. "As the market is competitive, our remedy is to focus on internal efficiencies and staff motivation as tools to address margin pressure, the directors say."
The bill for director remuneration fell by £158,000 to £636,745, including a cut in the rewards of the highest-paid, possibly chief executive Roddy Angus, from £128,160 to £103,854. Total employment rose from 213 to 235, though costs were marginally lower at just under £8m.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article