CARR’S Group, the listed agriculture, food and engineering company, has lifted full-year profits by five per cent to £17.5 million.

The group, which operates the world’s most technologically advanced mill in Kirkcaldy, said it had delivered another year of record profits before tax in spite of the “challenging market backdrop across all three of our divisions.”

Profits in its agriculture division soared by 8.8 per cent to £10.4m, driven by a strong performance in the US feed block business, while operational efficiencies helped lift food profits before tax by 6.3 per cent to £2.4m. But the company cited “contract mix and market difficulties” as pre-tax profits in engineering dropped by 16.7 per cent to £3.1m.

Shares were down nearly four per cent in morning trading.