Fruit distributor Total Produce has reported a pre-tax profit of €34.4 million for 2011, up 2.3 per cent on the previous year.

Revenue for the year fell 2.8 per cent to €2.53 billion while its earnings per share rose 5.8 per cent to 7.24 cent per share.

The company said it performed satisfactorily despite challenging conditions in certain markets due to the prolonged impact of the E. coli scare in May of last year.

The group proposed an increase of 8.6 per cent in its final dividend to 1.35 cent per share, bringing the full year dividend for 2011 to 1.89 cent per share, representing an increase of 6 per cent on 2010.

During the year, Total Produce spent almost €20m on a number of new acquisitions, including a €13 million transaction to increase its shareholding in the Capespan Group, the leading South African fresh produce company.

"With the continued benefit of a good geographic spread of activities across Europe and the full year impact of acquisitions completed in second half of 2011, the group is targeting adjusted earnings per share for 2012 in the range of 7.0 to 8.0 cent per share,” chairman Carl McCann said.