THE company which took over Malton bacon factory says its operations are on track to generate profit for the first time in "many years".

Karro Food Group has described its full results for the year ending December 31, 2013, as a "milestone" in its turnaround strategy as the company reports a £10 million improvement in its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

In its first year as an independent business, following its acquisition from Vion in January 2012, with backing from private equity firm Endless, Karro said the business is close to an EBITDA break-even point at -£3.3 million, thanks to sales of £533 million.

The firm, which has its headquarters and main factory in Norton Grove Industrial Estate, also secured a £60 million funding package during the year from GE Capital which has provided additional working capital and cash to invest into the business.

Operat through integrated farming, slaughter and processing operations from nine sites across the UK and Ireland, Karroing employs a team of 3,000 people and processes around 45,000 pigs each week for the UK’s major supermarkets and wholesale markets.

Di Walker, Karro executive chair, said: "We now have the right foundations in place to operate an efficient, effective business, based on strong partnerships with customers and our farming suppliers.

"I'm confident that this gives us a strong basis on which to continue to transform the underlying performance of our business and deliver excellent product quality and service levels to our customers."

Karro is now 18 months into its five year turnaround strategy, over which time the business has expanded its retail, food service and trade customer bases and invested in manufacturing capabilities, including £2 million into bacon slicing facilities at Karro's Scunthorpe site and a £500,000 upgrade to the gammon processing line at its Malton site.

Ms Walker added: "We continue to make extremely good progress against that plan in 2014, with a focus on the ongoing development of our strategic retail and trade partnerships, and the expansion of our export business in the USA and China.

"I'm pleased to report that we are well on track to deliver a further £10 million EBITDA improvement, which will see the group generating profit for the first time in many years."