THOMAS Tunnock, the Scottish biscuit manufacturer, has lifted ­profits by nearly seven per cent in its latest financial year, as customers sold more of its famous products at home and abroad.

Family-owned Tunnock, whose tea cakes had a starring role in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in July, booked pre-tax profits of £6.5 million in the year ended February 28.

The latest results mark a third successive profits rise for the firm, following a £6.06m pre-tax last year and profits of £3.84m pre-tax profit in 2012.

Tunnock's latest profits rise came as turnover leapt by 13.2 per cent, driven by an increase in sales across the UK and overseas markets.

Accounts newly available at Companies House show Uddingston-based Tunnock, whose biggest ­shareholder is veteran director Boyd Tunnock, boosted UK sales to £38.7m, up from £34.1m in 2013.

Tunnock, whose best selling line is its caramel wafer biscuit, saw sales in the rest of the world edge above £9m. This compared with £8.1m the year prior.

Saudi Arabia, Australia and South Africa are key export markets for the company, which was founded by Boyd Tunnock's grandfather in 1890.

No-one from Tunnock, which saw its gross profit percentage drop to 36.4 per cent from 38.8 per cent, was available to comment on the firm's latest financial year.

But the directors noted in the accounts: "The increase in turnover primarily reflects an increase in sales to existing customers."

The directors, who include Boyd Tunnock's daughters and son in law, also underscored the importance of capital expenditure at its 250,000 sqft factory in Uddingston to its performance. Writing in the accounts, the directors note: "The company continue to invest in new plant with capital expenditure of £3,345,085 (2013: £4,241,055) in the year. This is essential to maintain our position at the forefront of the market.

"We continue to review the possibility of extending the products within our range." Tunnock's latest accounts show that the increase in turnover was accompanied by an increase in the cost of sales, from £25.9m to £30.4m.

Gross profit increased to £17.4m from £16.4m, the profit and loss account shows, while the company's balance sheet shows an improvement in net assets to £38.4m from £34.4m.

According to the accounts, staff costs including directors' remuneration jumped to £12.5 million from £11.2 million. This came as average monthly staff numbers fell to 489 from 514, including directors.

Directors remuneration dropped to £466,438 in the firm's latest ­financial year from £482,887, with the remuneration of the highest paid director edging up to £144,719 from £135,240. Since year-end Tunnock has enjoyed what appears to have been a major sales boost thanks to the brand's starring turn at Glasgow 2014.

The appearance of giant dancing Tunnock's Tea Cakes on the Celtic Park pitch as part of the opening ceremony led to soaring sales at retailers such as Tesco and Waitrose. Artist Gillian Kyle, who designs merchandise such as tea towels and mugs with the Tunnock's branding, reported a 50 per cent increase in traffic to her website in the days after the ceremony. Tunnock's operations director Fergus Loudon said at the time that the company had given permission for the brand to be used, but did not know in what form.