A sauce manufacturer suffered a fall in profits and turnover as it was forced to cut prices in response to cheaper rape seed oil – a key raw material.

Sasco Sauces, based in Aylesford, reported a fall in pre tax profits to £103,000 from £327,000 a year earlier according to its latest accounts.

Revenues decreased to £8.8 million from £10.4 million in the year to April 30, while operating profit fell to £564,000 from £798,000.

The company, which has made mayonnaise and bespoke recipe sauces for more than 15 years, said its reduction in turnover “is a direct consequence of sale price decreases following significant falls in the price of rape seed oil during the year”.

However, the firm was able to increase its gross profit margin by two points to 22%, which only incurred a slight fall to just under £2 million.

Director Gary Spicer said this had been achieved thans to “operational efficiencies”.

He said: “It is anticipated the company will continue to trade successfully in spite of the continued uncertainty regarding fluctuation in oil prices in the year.

“The principal risk to the company is the potential volatility in the price of raw materials and this risk is managed by the company’s carefully considered buying strategy.”