Milk sales cheer for Wiseman

MILK sales at Robert Wiseman Dairies beat company expectations in the first quarter and are more than 20% ahead of last year. Raw milk costs have dropped, making up for the low price at which Wiseman was forced to sell bulk cream, the main factor behind falling profits last year.

However, chairman Alan Wiseman told the annual meeting that the market remained 'extremely competitive' and that the company was still awaiting the outcome of Office of Fair Trading investigations into the supply of milk to the middle-ground market in Scotland.

The company denies it has infringed competition rules, and has already spent £700,000 defending itself against the allegations.

Wiseman said that production levels at its state-of-the-art plant at Droitwich Spa continue to increase and it is now churning out five million litres a week or 260m litres a year.