One of the UK's leading egg producers has posted a loss of more than £2.5 million in its last published financial year.
Kent based egg company Friday lost £2.58 million before tax in the 12 months to the end of December 2019.
It warned that it had since been hit by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has devastated many other businesses in the UK.
"Trading conditions for eggs have improved this year but our chilled food products division has been impacted by the effects of Covid-19 measures on our food service customers," said director Andrew Friday in a business review incorporated in the 2019 accounts.
The food service industry has been badly hit by lockdowns and restrictions introduced by government in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
A new strain of the virus has spread rapidly in the UK, although government hopes that a vaccination programme now underway will bring the virus under control.
Andrew Friday said that the company was also monitoring the impact of the UK finally leaving the EU single market and customs union.
"The directors are continuing to monitor the impact of Great Britain leaving the European Union and how this is going to affect the industry in the short to medium term," said Andrew Friday
"The impacts of Covid-19 and Brexit continue to represent uncertainty to the business and investment has been constrained to ensure the business has adequate resources to mitigate any risks."
Despite this, Fridays has submitted plans for a multi-million-pound free range development on a 237-acre site in Kent.
The company has submitted a planning application to Maidstone Borough Council for units housing a total of 192,000 free range layers.
Three sheds, each housing 64,000 birds and built with the addition of winter gardens, will be built at a cost of £3 million each.
Fridays says the development would be state-of-the-art, although some locals residents near the site at Chainhurst, near Marden are opposing the scheme.
