6th Mar 2019 09:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Origin Enterprises PLC on Wednesday reported swinging to a minor profit in the first half of the financial year as revenue rose.
For the six months to January 31, the agri-services company posted a EUR1,000 pretax profit compared to EUR2.8 million loss a year ago. Before amortisation of intangible assets and exceptional items, Origin swung to a pretax profit of EUR5.0 million from a loss of EUR31,000.
Meanwhile, revenue rose to EUR701.6 million from EUR586.9 million, driven by an increase in agronomy services revenue and crop input volumes, as well as increased fertiliser prices.
"Origin has achieved a good first half result, recording an operating profit of EUR9.1 million, up from EUR2.3 million in the first half of 2018. The performance reflects the benefit of favourable early season demand for agronomy services and crop inputs, together with a strong first-time contribution from our Latin American segment," Chief Executive Officer Tom O'Mahony said.
The company held its interim dividend at 3.15 euro cents per share to be paid to shareholders on April 12.
Looking ahead, Origin said that the autumn and winter cropping profile established to date provided a "solid foundation for the seasonally more important second half". The company will update of its outlook for the year in June.
Origin shares were untraded in London at EUR5.23 each.
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