23rd Nov 2018 09:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Origin Enterprises PLC on Friday said it had a positive start to its current financial year with a significant rise in revenue in the first quarter.
The stock was up 4.0% on Friday at EUR6.00 a share.
Ahead of its annual general meeting, the agri-services company said revenue in the three months to the end of October grew by 24% to EUR430.0 million from EUR346.7 million reported for the same period a year earlier.
The result was boosted by higher seed, crop protection and fertiliser volumes and prices in the period, Origin said. Underlying volume growth in agronomy services and crop inputs stood at 14% in the period.
"Demand levels for agronomy services and crop inputs were strong in the period, supported by a combination of early season timing and generally improved sentiment on-farm," the company said in the statement.
Geographically, the UK & Ireland unit delivered a good performance, Origin said, recording revenue growth of 19% to EUR261.5 million. In particular, this performance was positively supported by seasonal timing and volume contribution from the Bunn fertiliser business, which was acquired in the prior year.
In the continental Europe, revenue improved by 26% to EUR101.8 million, with a satisfactory performance in Ukraine, Romania and Poland.
Meanwhile, Latin America generated a revenue of EUR11.7 million. Origin entered the Brazilian market in August through the acquisition of crop nutrition firm Fortgreen.
"Fortgreen has delivered a good maiden contribution in the period, with performance in line with pre-acquisition expectations," Origin said.
Looking forward, the company said solid progress on plantings provide an encouraging start to the year.
In addition, the autumn and winter cropping profile in Ireland & UK and Continental European geographies provides a good foundation for the seasonally more important second half of the year, the company added.
Origin said it will publish its its interim results in March next year.
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