Allied Vehicles profits on down slope ... but its electric car business, although small, is growing

PROFITS at Glasgow-based Allied Vehicles slipped into reverse after a fall in demand for taxis and a drop in investment income.

Accounts showed that turnover at the company - which sells and repairs taxis and wheelchair-accessible cars - fell by 7.7 per cent to 55.7 million in the year to 30 April as taxi drivers struggled to find the cash to buy new cabs.

Cost-cutting helped to raise operating profit by 2.8 per cent to 220,000 but a fall in bank credit and other investment income from 55,000 to 4,000 meant pre-tax profit dropped by 25.6 per cent to 82,000.

The firm's headcount fell from 370 to 330, while the highest-paid director took a pay cut from 106,000 to 85,000.

But Allied Vehicles highlighted its continued investment in electric vehicles, which it said sold in small numbers but at a "significant price premium". The firm recently won a large contract for electric vehicles from the Scottish Government.