A cardboard packaging manufacturer more than quadrupled pre-tax profits to £385,000 as a seven-figure investment in machinery paid off.

Third-generation family business WE Roberts more than doubled operating profits to £454,000 as it also reduced distribution costs and administrative expenses.

Turnover edged up 3% to nearly £16 million at the firm, which operates a corrugated cardboard business from a 100,000sq ft production plant in Northfleet, behind Ebbsfleet United home ground Stonebridge Road.

The increase, revealed in its latest accounts filed at Companies House, comes after a “consolidation period” following the installation of a 143m corrugator machine.

Sales director Ben Wilks said: “Putting that in place needs a lot of investment and takes two or three years.

“Up until this point, I had clipped my team’s wings a little. We couldn’t immediately go full-throttle everywhere because we needed to make sure there was capacity within the business.

“We only turned the tap on when we had the confidence to go. Now we are seeing the rewards of previous years’ investments.”

Mr Wilks said performance this year is in line with expectations, although orders are heavily loaded towards the second half of the year with packaging for harvested crops and the run-up to Christmas.

WE Roberts bought the machine second-hand, jumping on the misfortune of another print business which did not survive a period of over-capacity in the industry.

Mr Wilks said: “We are positive. We are a family business in the very large world paper market.

“We do our best to keep our independence for our customers. If you’re Coca-Cola you may want to buy from bigger suppliers but if you’re someone else in the UK you might want someone smaller with different values.

“We try to keep the family business ethic which keeps service levels as high as possible. We can do quicker deliveries, for example.”

Alongside cardboard manufacturing, WE Roberts has a separate packaging supplies company run from an industrial unit on the other side of the Ebbsfleet football ground.

The cardboard business was founded in 1958 by William Edward Roberts and his son Alan, with its packaging supplies arm added in 1963.

Today it is run by Alan’s sons Paul and Shaun Roberts.

“Brexit has been interesting. You can see people waiting and not wanting to invest in new projects..." - Ben Wilks, WE Roberts

Gross profit was up 6.5% to £3.8 million last year.

The firm, which employs about 150 people, paid dividends of £204,200 to Shaun, Paul and Alan Roberts and Susanna Court.

Plans for future development of the business could be affected by fluctuations in the price of paper.

Financial director Richard Puffette said: “The business operates in a market where there can be a certain amount of uncertainty in respect of the long-term pricing structure of raw paper materials.

“Purchasing of the raw paper material is therefore tightly controlled.”

The vote to leave the EU has had a negative effect on the business, which buys its raw materials in euros and has suffered from the falling value of the pound after the referendum.

“Brexit has been interesting,” said Mr Wilks. “You can see people waiting and not wanting to invest in new projects. People have the brakes on and that definitely happened in the second quarter of the year.

“Then again we have certain customers who are more open to discussions with us as a British independent family business.”