A new CEO has been appointed to lead Carr’s Group, as the company publishes its interim results.
The company completed the sale of its engineering division for £75 million last month.
It said it was making significant progress towards it becoming an agriculture specialist, with operating profits rising from £5.3 million in 2024 to £7 million in 2025.
David White, CEO of Carr’s Group, said he would step down on June 30 and Josh Hoopes, CEO global agriculture, would take over.
: “Today’s interim results clearly demonstrate the benefits of our strategic transformation to a specialist agriculture manufacturer.
“During the period the group has achieved significant milestones through the sale of the bulk of the engineering division, the development of a clear and refocused agriculture strategy, with substantial progress made in corporate simplification through pension de-risking, sale of excess properties and ongoing central cost reduction.
“I would like to thank current and former colleagues in the engineering division and group functions for their hard work and dedication in delivering a successful realisation of value for the engineering division.
“With the planned return of capital to shareholders expected to complete in early July, the time is right to transition leadership to our CEO global agriculture, Josh Hoopes.
“The board has full confidence that under Josh’s leadership and through execution of our refocused strategy the business can achieve significant profitable growth and drive shareholder returns. I wish him and the team every success as they pursue exciting opportunities that lie ahead.”
The group said there was an ongoing process to realise value for the remaining Chirton Engineering business and the sale of eight investment/non-core properties had netted the firm £7m to date in 2025.
The Carlisle-headquartered firm was founded in 1831 and was one of the largest baking businesses in Britain, and began milling flour in 1836.
It acquired engineering business Bendalls in 1996 and moved into agriculture in 1997 when it bought Animal Feed Supplement in the USA. It continued to expand and sold the flour mills side of the business in 2016 for £36m, to allow it to focus on engineering and agriculture.
Carr’s said with the disposal of the engineering division, the short to medium term performance of the company, relying on agricultural markets in the northern hemisphere, would be more seasonal.
It added: “While we anticipate the positive trading momentum from the first half will continue, the second half of the year typically experiences lower seasonal trade across our markets which will moderate overall performance.
“In addition, completion of the main engineering disposal will enable further reductions in central costs.
“Trading conditions in the US, particularly in the southern states, remain challenging, largely due to climatic factors, with the anticipated recovery in US herd size likely to be later than the previously anticipated second half of 2025, impacting expected performance in FY26.
“Across all our markets, our strategic priority remains to deliver increased market share and margin enhancements through disciplined commercial execution.”
