SEED and grain merchant Germinal Holdings saw turnover fall by 15 per cent last year to £27m.
It made the Banbridge firm's profit over the 12 months to June 2015 £1.8m before tax, against £3m the previous year.
Headquartered in Banbridge, the group also has a site in Thurles in the Republic and Lincoln in England.
The company supplies high grade amenity amenity grass seed mixtures, fertilisers and wildflower mixtures direct for use in agriculture and sports.
The firm reduced staff numbers slightly over the year to an average of 103 from 109 the previous year.
Its slashed its wage bill by 13.5 per cent to £4.3m. Payment to directors also reduced significantly to £869,441 from £1.2m with the highest paid receiving £246,019 against £347.891 the previous year.
Directors recommended a proposed final dividend of 80p on ordinary £1 shares.
The company is one of the oldest in Northern Ireland, having been started in Belfast in 1825 and now counts itself as the largest family-owned amenity seed firm in Britain or Ireland.
These days, the group is managed by William Gilbert, a direct descendant of the original owners.
It expanded into England in the 1950s and in the 1960s merged with Banbridge-based Joseph Morton Ltd and later acquired James Coburn & Sons also in the town.
Over recent decades, the company has expanded operations throughout Britain and in 2002 took a shareholding in New Zealand company Cates Grain and Seed.
In 2013 the company brought its Samuel McCausland and British Seeds Houses names under the one Germinal Seeds brands.
Grass and clover varieties developed by Germinal are distributed worldwide in Europe, North and South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
