LEGAL COSTS associated with a long-running High Court case over bread packaging contributed to pushing McCambridge’s into the red last year.

Accounts just filed by McCambridge Ltd confirm the bread company recorded a loss of €682,361 in the 12 months to the end of June 25th last. The Dublin firm recorded a pre-tax profit of €124,252 in 2010.

Last November McCambridge’s won a High Court case against rival Brennans over the packaging used for a brown bread product.

Mr Justice Michael Peart found the Brennans packaging was likely to confuse consumers, and McCambridge’s was entitled to appropriate injunctions to prevent this. He ruled McCambridge’s could recover just 40 per cent of its legal costs from Brennans.

UK-owned McCambridge’s provided for €265,000 in legal costs last year, and it is understood that the vast majority of the costs relate to the Brennan case.

The firm incurred total exceptional costs of €2.4 million, which included the waiving of a €2.1 million inter-company loan.