Dechra Pharmaceuticals plc has seen its pre-tax profits soar 30 per cent to £7.6 million.

The firm, which is the parent company of Skipton-based Dales Pharmaceuticals, has also seen a rise in turnover - up nearly nine per cent from £156 million to £170 million.

Dales, which employs 80 people, is the in-house manufacturing arm of Dechra, developing a wide variety of veterinary drugs.

In April Dechra announced the acquisition of two other firms, North Western Laboratories Ltd and Cambridge Specialist Laboratory Services, in a deal worth £2.7 million.

It also recently completed a £2.8 million capital investment programme at Dales which is expected to quadruple its sales.

Michael Redmond, Dechra's non-executive chairman, said: "Our core veterinary and third party contract manufacturing markets continue to grow and offer opportunities that we can exploit.

"We will further expand our licensed veterinary product portfolio through our own in-house development capabilities whilst, at the same time, continuing to look for product acquisition opportunities.

"The merger between Dales and Anglian is progressing well and the strengthened management team is already starting to realise the exciting potential for this business.

"North Western Laboratories and Cambridge Specialist Laboratory Services have made encouraging progress since acquisition with results to date in line with our pre-acquisition expectations."

Hitchin-based Anglian currently makes a variety of health care products including remedies for dry mouth and snoring.

Mike Annice, managing director of Dales, added: "When the merger with Anglain is completed the staff levels here will rise to around 110.

"The results show that our two new product developments have been a success and we have seen an increase in the amount of enquiries and the quality of customer interest.

"The £2.8 million investment programme looks set to exceed our expectations of quadrupling our sales."