Macfarlane Group, the Glasgow-based packaging, design and distribution firm, said its revenue grew 2% to £141.6 million and profit before tax increased 13% to £10 million in the six months to June 30, 2023.

In its packaging business, Macfarlane reported a “good contribution” from the acquisitions of PackMann in May 2022 and Gottlieb in April 2023, as organic growth in Europe and new business wins “offset lower demand from customers in the UK and Ireland.”

Macfarlane’s manufacturing operations delivered strong revenue growth of 13% to £17.7 million, including a good contribution from Suttons, acquired in February 2023, which offset “the slower demand in certain industrial markets.”

Interim dividend increased to 0.94p per share from 0.90p per share.

Macfarlane Group chair Aleen Gulvanessian said: “The group has demonstrated resilience in the first half of 2023, against the backdrop of a slowdown in customer demand.  

“We have executed two high quality acquisitions which are both performing well, we continue to make good progress in Europe and have positive new business momentum.  

“The inflationary impact of operating cost increases has been offset by effective input price management. 

“We opened our new Northern Innovation Lab in March 2023 which is already having early success in helping our customers reduce their total cost of packaging and carbon footprint …

“Whilst we expect the second half of 2023 to remain challenging, our good progress in Europe, diverse customer base, strong new business momentum and effective management of pricing and costs mean that our profit expectations for the full year remain unchanged.”