Agriculture, engineering and banking group Camellia returned to an underlying profit of £4.9 million in the first six months of the year, as it enjoyed a boost from the low value of the pound after the EU referendum.

The international group, which has its headquarters in Linton, Maidstone, turned around adjusted losses of £3.1 million in the same period in 2015.

It marginally increased revenues by 3.5% to £106.1 million.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, the company employs more than 76,000 people around the world in businesses spread across a variety of industries.

It said its agriculture division had benefitted from strong tea production in the first half of the year in India, Kenya and Bangladesh, with strong prices in India.

This was offset in part by lower prices for tea in all other jurisdictions and reduced profits from macadamia primarily due to drought.

However, bosses said the short term fall in the value of the pound against most of the currencies it uses to trade is likely to have a positive impact on its full year results.

Elsewhere, it said its private bank Duncan Lawrie, which has one of its four offices in Wrotham, is implementing its growth plan but is facing a challenging environment after the Bank of England cut interest rates to 0.25% last month, alongside uncertainties in the property market.

Its banking and financial services division made a trading loss of £2.8 million, up from £1.2 million a year earlier.

Camellia chairman Malcolm Perkins said the outlook for the group is “mixed”.

He said: “Profits for the first six months of the year are substantially higher than the same period last year, once again demonstrating the strength in the diversity of the group.

“Profits for the first six months of the year are substantially higher than the same period last year, once again demonstrating the strength in the diversity of the group..." - Malcolm Perkins, Camellia

“Underlying progress was made by all of our businesses, however a number have faced truly challenging conditions either due to weather or markets and the outlook for the group continues to be mixed.

“In addition, unpredictable weather makes crop volumes hard to predict and has a consequential effect on prices.

“In the UK, the lowering of the interest rate will inevitably have a detrimental impact on our banking operations and the continuing uncertainty following the EU referendum vote has triggered a slowdown in our engineering businesses.

“It is too early, and there remain too many uncertainties, to make any prediction for the full year.”

The company’s interests also include engineering, with its company Abbey Metal Finishing near Birmingham continuing to trade ahead of expectations after a turnaround last year.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen-based AJT Engineering continues to be adversely impacted by conditions in the oil and gas market, which it said “remains under close review”.