Pork prices inflated by swine fever in Asia held back Lanarkshire food sector firm Devro in Europe as it launched a new product.
But a boom in demand for protein snacks drove growth in North America for the firm which makes collagen sausage skins.
Revenue was down just under 1% overall at the firm which has factories in Moodiesburn near Glasgow and Bellshill. But pre-tax profits were up from £14.3 million to £14.9 million and earnings per share rose from 6.6p to 7p.
The launch of Devro’s Fine Ultra food casings in Europe, Middle East and Africa was offset by “lower promotional activity due to higher pork prices, some de-stocking of Brexit inventory builds and poor weather in May”.
Sales in China increased by 19% after winning new customers and the firm said it expects further growth there thanks to the launch of Fine Ultra.
Chief executive Rutger Helbing said: “We continued to make good progress on our strategic priorities in the first half. We delivered manufacturing efficiency improvements, in particular with increased speeds at our US plant.
“Our commercial and product development teams continue to establish the building blocks to accelerate future growth through the roll-out of our new Fine Ultra product platform and developing new categories in China.
“For the full year, we continue to expect volume and revenue growth to be weighted towards the second half, supported by a number of commercial initiatives to accelerate growth and the continued rollout of our Fine Ultra product platform. We also now expect our total cost savings programme to exceed our previously stated target. At current FX rates operating profit will benefit from foreign exchange gains in the second half.
“Despite weaker market sentiment in some mature markets and ongoing pressures from input cost inflation, the Board believes that Devro continues to be well placed to make good progress in 2019 and the full year outlook remains unchanged.”
