Lakeland Dairies Co-op has reported a strong business performance in the year to 31 December 2014, with a 15% increase in turnover to €625.8m (£491m) and operating profit up by 10% to €12.9m (£10m).

Group chief executive Michael Hanley described the results as ‘‘very robust’’ and pointed to the competitive milk price that Lakeland had paid in a year of difficult market conditions.

Asked about the prospects for milk prices in the next few months, Michael Hanley would only say that markets are currently challenging, with added difficulty of the strong exchange rate of sterling affecting the price payable for product from NI.

“Our goal is to pay the highest price we can. We have paid a leading price in NI over the past year and in previous years,’’ Hanley said.

‘‘We have customers for all the milk. Our job is to convert the milk into products that our customers want and to deliver those products where they are wanted every time,” he added.