Origin 'confident' despite falling profit

Agri-food group Origin Enterprises has reported a 46 per cent drop in operating profits to €12.9 million for the six months to the end of January.

However, the company said comparisons with the previous period were impacted by various acquisitions made during the second half of 2011.

The expansion of the group's agri-services division in 2011 and the formation of Valeo Foods in November 2010 have resulted in the second half of the financial year becoming much more seasonally important with 15 per cent of operating profits now typically earned in the first half of the year, the group’s chief executive Tom O'Mahony said.

“We remain confident regarding our future prospects and are comfortable with full year analyst earnings expectations,” he added.

The group reported half-year revenues of €507.4 million, down 17 per cent on the corresponding period the previous year.

It also reported a 0.77 cent like-for-like reduction in earnings per share which it said was due to the later timing of business-to-business fertiliser sales.

In January, the group rebranded its British division Masstock and United Agri Products (UAP) under the brand name Agrii.

The company said today its commercial, technical and business process integration was "progressing to plan".