Origin shares rise more than 5.3%

SHARES in agri-food group Origin Enterprises rose more than 5.3% – or 11c – to €2.16 yesterday despite the company saying its profits for this year would take a hit of more than €100 million, due to the write-down in the value of its property portfolio.

Origin, which was spun -off from IAWS (now Aryzta) two years ago, said yesterday, in a trading update covering the nine months to April 25, that due to the downturn in the Irish property market it would be writing down the value of its investment properties to €135m. This would bring the value of the combined portfolio of properties, mainly located in Cork’s South Docks area, to €58m, down from €193m. It added the move would result in a once-off non-cash charge of €105m, which would be shown as an exceptional item in its profit and loss account for the 12 months to the end of July.

Origin is set to announce its latest set of full-year results in September. However, as property is not a core element of the company’s business, neither the write-down nor the exceptional hit will affect the growth strategy of the firm.

As part of yesterday’s trading update, the Dublin IEX and London AIM-listed business said the nine months under review showed a 16.7% year-on-year increase to €922.7m in revenues in its agri-nutrition arm, and a 13.4% fall to €226.8m in its food division revenues, but an overall rise of 9.2% to €1.15 billion in group revenue.

Origin chief executive Tom O’Mahony called it an excellent performance against a backdrop of challenging market conditions.