Finance director John Denman said that while the Kendal-based groups sales in China had been hit by SARS, its performance in the US had benefited from the appointment of a new agent.
The firm aims to grow export sales to the regions by 3,000 tonnes a year over the next three to four years to 50,000 tonnes a year.
The group reported an operating loss of 95,000 for the half-year to 27 September 2003, compared to a profit of 614,000 for the same period last year.
Pre-tax profits slumped from 1.1m to 95,000, primarily due to the difficulties faced by its paper division, but sales rose slightly to 27.5m.
Story by Andy Scott
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"Gosh! That’s a huge debt - especially HMRC! It’s a shock that HMRC allowed such an amount to be accumulated."
"Whatever happened to the good old fashioned cash job! At least the banks didn't take 2-3% of each sale. After 30 odd transactions that £100 quid you had has gone."
"It's amazing what can be found on the "web" nowadays!"
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