This compares to its 2002 loss of 5.6m. According to Macfarlane's chairman Archie Hunter, this year's result was partly blamed on the "seriously disruptive" restructure of the firm.

This included the sale of its packaging operations in Dundee, Govan and North Shields for 900,000.

The result of the sale was a book loss of 3.2m.

The company's packaging business now operates from two UK sites at Grantham and Westbury that manufacture custom designed packaging.

Macfarlane also announced that it would be issuing a special interim dividend of 75p per share following improvements in its trading performance in the first quarter of 2004.