Origin to focus on further acquisitions

Agri-services group, Origin Enterprises has said it is open to making further acquisitions this year after upping its growth guidance, mainly based on the potential benefits of its recent high-prospect purchase in Ukraine.

The Dublin-based company — which counts Irish-Swiss bakery group, Aryzta as its main shareholder — yesterday reported an 8.8% year-on-year drop in first-half revenues for the six months to the end of January; to €517.6m, with pre-tax profits down by nearly 19% to just over €8.3m.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share were down from 7.59c to 5.93c.

However, management upped its full-year guidance — in terms of adjusted diluted earnings per share — by 3% to 53.5c, for the 12 months to the end of July. Earnings growth, in this regard, were previously expected to be flat year-on-year.

Origin’s share price was up by nearly 3%, in Dublin, yesterday, closing at €7.38.