Lees Foods Ltd has announced its year end results to 31 December 2013.

Sales for the group rose by 21.5% to £26.3m (2012: £21.6m) with profit before tax rising to £1.4m (2012: £1.2m).

Clive Miquel, chief executive commented, “The Group performed exceptionally well during 2013 and I’m pleased to report that the increase in sales has been largely down to the continued growth of Lees snowballs and Lees teacakes”.

“The fine weather during July and August last year contributed to a significant uplift in sales of Carousel ice-cream cones and wafers which continued the sales development at the Waverley bakery.

“Trading to date in 2014 has been encouraging and we have consolidated upon the sales growth achieved last year. Our challenge now is to maintain margins at a time when there is some volatility in commodity prices, especially in coconut and chocolate.

“Looking ahead there are a number of developments in the pipeline. We are investing over £1.7m in the Lees factory at Coatbridge over the next 6 months to add a new modern production line to manufacture our snowballs and teacakes, which in addition to being more efficient will allow us to focus on maintaining high product quality.