Origin revenues rise 70% to €1.5bn

FOOD and agri-business group Origin Enterprises, owners of the Shamrock Foods and Roma brands, has announced a sharp rise in turnover and profits for the financial year.

In the year to July 31 the group reported pre-tax profits of €56.2 million for the year to the end of July, up from €39.5m a year earlier.

Revenues rose 70% to €1.5 billion, with operating profits up 86% to €70.9m. No dividend is being paid.

Acquisitions, including agri-nutrition firm Masstock and 50% of flour group Odlums helped boost the year’s outturn.

Stripping out acquisitions, Origin said revenue growth was 26%.

Agri-nutrition revenues rose by 80% to €1.17bn and food revenue was up 40% to €339m.

The company said it was confident that in the current environment of growing food demand all aspects of its operations were destined to deliver steady growth in the years head.

Chief executive Tom O’Mahony warned that with pressure on basic commodities due to bad weather and growing demand, food price inflation could be as high as 18% in the current year.

He said the global demand situation suggested that consumers were looking at rising food prices for several years to come.

O’Mahony described the year just gone as “transformational” with the acquisition of Masstock, the group’s largest buy to date, which positions the company to provide farmers with crucial advice on how to make the most efficient use of their land as well as providing them with the inputs needed to achieve that return.

On the property front the group said its property play consisted of a 32 acre footprint with some water frontage in Cork South Docks.

O’Mahony said this “this is a 10-15 year development plan” that will take time to out in place and the company was determined to extract the fullest value possible from the site.

To do that will require the transfer of its Gouldings fertiliser plant and its R&H Hall animal feed business to other sites in the region.

But its Odlums flour mill, with 50 employees, was likely to be moved closer to Dublin where the group has its biggest market base, O’Mahony said.