Origin reports profits of €11m

ORIGIN Enterprises, the Dublin-based agri-food company, has reported a pre-tax profit of €11.3 million for the first half of its financial year, down from just over €17.1m for the same period last year.

The company is controlled by the Irish-Swiss bakery group, Aryzta, which is, itself, due to report its first half figures next Monday.

Origin said figures for the six months to the end of January were in line with expectations and impacted by increased seasonality, with agricultural activity generally more concentrated towards the second half of its financial year. It said customers adopted a “cautious approach” and deferred buying decisions “until closer to the main application periods“.

Origin chief executive Tom O’Mahony said the company, which owns such food brands as Shamrock and Roma, had performed well “in a difficult trading environment” and remains on track to deliver earnings per share of around 33c for the full year. Mr O’Mahony said: “Market conditions within food continue to be extremely competitive.

“A continuous focus on service, value innovation and cost alignment are key to maintaining the competitive positioning of our consumer brands.”

Group revenue, for the first half of the financial year, amounted to €596.8m, which was a year-on-year fall of 16%.

Earnings per share, meanwhile, were down by as much as 22% year-on-year, at 8.68c.

Mr O’Mahony said: “The recent uplift in primary output markets, while welcome, has yet to noticeably impact farm incomes. The environment remains challenging.”