EUROPE’S biggest manufacturer of supermarkets’ own-brand household products made £36.2m in profit last year and remains on the look-out to buy smaller companies.

McBride has its main factory at Middleton and supplies supermarkets like Tesco and Carrefour with own-label goods ranging from dishwasher tablets to deodorant.

The £36.2m it made in profit to the end of June represents a 34 per cent hike on last year.

McBride’s turnover has also increased by 13 per cent to £792.4m – up from £700.9m last time.

The company said in June that it expected to make a profit of ‘at least’ £35m as recession-hit shoppers switch to cheaper own-brand products.

The announcement prompted McBride's shares to rise by 6p to £1.60.

Chief executive Miles Roberts said: “We have made a good start to the new financial year, continuing the trend in the second half of last year.”

He said that McBride had won new business in central Europe and was also ‘getting closer’ to making an acquisition – although he would not be precise about timing.

Mr Roberts said that he is ‘very comfortable’ with analysts increasing their profit forecast for the current financial year by around 10 per cent, to between £41m and £42m.