Pre-tax profits have risen by more than £9 million at the owner of Cumbrian-based Eden Valley Mineral Water.

Food and drink group Princes, which has a portfolio of brands including Aqua Pura water bottled at Low Plains near Armathwaite, reported a profit before tax of £26.2m for the year ending March 31, 2019 – up from the previous year’s figure of £17.2m.

Profit after tax also rose to £8.5m in 2018-19 from £7.8m in the previous year, although turnover fell from £1.6 billion to £1.5bn for the comparable periods, the company said in results filed at Companies House.

Princes – whose other well-known brands include Crosse & Blackwell, Batchelors, Flora and Branston – said it was undertaking transformation programme to “drive continuous growth and respond to challenging market conditions”.

This has included a recent investment at its plant in Cumbria which means that any bottle produced there, whether for the Aqua Pura or customer own brand, uses 51 per cent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

“We are seeing the outcomes of this programme coming to fruition rapidly,” said a Princes spokesperson.

“We will continue to make progress in achieving our vision of proudly helping families to eat well without costing the earth, and delivering sustainable profit growth.”

Princes announced a £15m investment in its Cumbrian plant back in 2015, which saw a new bottling line and an office block with a laboratory, engineering workshop, staff canteen and welfare facilities.

Around 130 people are employed at the site which draws on the Penrith aquifer – believed to be one of the largest underground water sources in Europe – and is licensed to extract up to 3bn litres of water each year.

Production at the plant started in 1991 and traded as Well Well Well until it was acquired by Princes in 2004.