Sinclair’s fortunes took a turn for the better in the full year to 30 Setpember 2014, with a pretax profit of £1.95m following the previous year’s £1.67m loss. Turnover was down fractionally from £46.5m to £46.2m. The board decided not to pay a dividend.

CEO Peter Rush said the company had “changed significantly” during the year and could begin to look forward to benefiting from the strengths and opportunities created.

"The substantial part of the £25 million investment at Ellesmere Port is complete and we now consider William Sinclair to be the most technically advanced manufacturer in the UK in terms of production capacity, consistency and efficiency,” he said.  “Ellesmere Port will drive our strategy of seeking to increase our share of the growing media market and capitalising on some of our leading brands."

"Solid foundations have now been built. Further investment and activity will be required to complete the modernisation strategy. However, the re-launch and promotion of our key brands have resulted in positive reactions from our customers against a backdrop of competitive market conditions. Together with the restructured sales force the Company intends to rebuild sales lost during the disruption caused by Ellesmere Port's development.

"William Sinclair has changed significantly during the year and we can begin to look forward to benefiting from the strengths and opportunities the Company has created."

A final payment of £12.25m from Natural England following the closure of the Bolton Fell peat bog helped to offset what chairman Rupert King described as disappointing EBITDA results, which showed an operating loss of £0.85m.

“The market has been competitive, we have suffered from some historic quality issues and we have been distracted by the negotiations with Natural England and the time and energy absorbed in relocating various elements of production.  Overall, although gaining business from The Garden Centre Group, we lost business elsewhere,” he said

The group reduced its bank debt to £3.4 million last year (£9.6 million in 2013).