Norish, the cold storage and warehousing group, has been pushed into the red by the foot and mouth epidemic.

The company lost £200,000 sterling in the first six months of the year compared to profits of £1.1 million for the same period last year. Turnover fell from £6.8 million to £6.5 million in the six months to the end of June and losses per share were 2.1p compared to earnings per share of 10.1p last time.