The parent company of Karro Food Group is back in profit for the year ending 30 March 2024, after recording a significant pre-tax loss in the previous 12 months.

UK111 Ltd is a UK-based holding company for Sofina Foods, a global food business owned by Canadian businessman, Michael Latifi. Subsidiary companies coming under the UK111 Ltd banner include Young’s Seafood and Karro, which operates a large pig processing business at Cookstown in Co Tyrone.

The seafood and pig businesses were originally brought together in 2019 by private equity firm, CapVest, before being sold on to Latifi in 2021.

In the previous accounts to March 2023, UK111 Ltd recorded pre-tax losses of £43.3m, however, in the last financial year, it has turned that into a pre-tax profit of £43.8m. Turnover in the last year stood at just over £2bn, with an operating profit of £48.4m, which is an operating profit margin of a reasonably healthy 2.4%. In total, UK111 employs 6,917 people, although that is down on the 8,134 in the previous financial year.

The latest accounts also show that UK111 Ltd paid dividends of £144.5m to Sofina Foods in the last financial year. As a result, the total equity of the business has dropped from just over £1.1bn to £990m.

Looking ahead, the directors of UK111 said the company is well placed to deal with the competitive pressures that characterise UK and European pork and seafood industries and is preparing for “further significant growth” under the ownership of Sofina.