COLD storage group Norish turned the corner in the first half of this year. The troubled group announced per tax profits of £688,000 in the six months to June 30th, from a loss of £566,000 in the same period last year.

The increased profits are mainly due to improved trading conditions in the cold storage industry in Britain as well as rationalisation of its Irish operations.

Norish has now almost completely withdrawn from the Irish market. It has disposed of, Eirfreeze Dublin and its controlling shareholding in Norish Kilkenny. It has also sold the remaining Castleblaney, Co Monaghan facility - it now has a joint venture agreement controlling the store.

The company said the outlook was now positive. Its four commercial cold storage facilities in Britain operated profitably in the first half of this year.

Its older units, at Brierley Hill and West Suffolk, continue to perform well, while the two new units at Wrexham and at Braintree in Essex also made a positive contribution.

The company has said that the cold storage market has been helped by the BSE crisis. The consequent reduced demand for beef has led the European Commission to re open cold storage.

Earnings per share are 6.18p compared with a loss of 6.34p in the first half of 1995. However, the company is not paying a dividend.

The profit on continuing activities came to £544,000. Group sales on continuing operations came to £3.5 million and £4.9 million including discontinued operations. The company also realised exceptional costs of £280,000 from the disposal of fixed assets.