25 May 2012

Profits sour at Ukrproduct

08/12/2009

Ukrainian dairy products specialist Ukrproduct Group has warned that its profits are likely to decline the second half, impacted by raw materials prices and bad debts.

With the domestic economy suffering a ‘significant slowdown’, the AIM-listed company informed that its post-tax profit in the six months to December are ‘anticipated to fall below the first half of the year’. Management therefore expects the full year results to come in below those delivered last year, although second half sales are not expected to be lower than those in the first.

Having cut costs and implemented some pay freezes, the board is confident it has ‘sufficient’ cash to meet current debt obligations in the short and medium term, and is confident of making further savings next year from ‘optimising production’. However, after a number of retail and distribution clients went out of business, the group has been forced to increase its bad debt provisions.

On the up side, a November increase in raw material prices, particularly of raw milk, was mostly passed on to customers as the demand for butter and processed cheese increased in that same month. Furthermore, as well as anticipated double digit growth in sales of skimmed milk powder, Ukrproduct has made some moves to strengthened its position in the premium market segment, launching of new products under the premium ‘Molendam’ brand that include cheese in bricks, sausage cheese and spreadable cheese.

With the news released at 4.30pm in the UK, the shares, floated at 53.5p in 2005 and as low as 7.5p in the last year, were unmoved at 32p on the day, where they values the Kiev-headquartered company at £13.14 million.

Tags: AIM, Profit warning

Sector: Food Producers

Companies: Ukrproduct

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