Agri-Services group Origin Enterprises has announced higher operating profits and revenues for the six months to the end of January after what it called a positive performance.
Origin Enterprises said its six month revenues rose by 19.5% to €701.6m from €586.9m the same time last year, on the back of increased fertiliser prices, crop input volumes and the Fortgreen deal in Latin America.
In June, the company agreed a deal to buy a 65% interest in Fortgreen Commercial Agricola in Brazil. As part of the deal, it bought a 20% shareholding in Ferrari Zagatto E Cia.
Fortgreen, which is headquartered in Paraná State in the south of Brazil, is focused on the development of value added crop nutrition and speciality inputs.
In its results statement, today, Origin said its half yearly operating profits grew to €9.1m from €2.3m in the first half of the previous year.
Origin also reported an underlying operating profit increase of €1m on the back of early season demand in Ireland and the UK.
The company has declared an interim dividend of 3.15 cent per share, unchanged from the same time last year.
Origin's CEO Tom O'Mahoney said the company's performance reflects the benefit of favourable early season demand for agronomy services and crop inputs, together with a strong first-time contribution from its Latin American segment.
"Our investment in Latin America underlines the group's ambition to pursue meaningful geographical diversification and seasonality balance in attractive growth markets," Mr O'Mahoney said.
Looking ahead, the CEO said that the autumn and winter cropping profile established to date provides a solid foundation for the seasonally more important second half.
Shares in the company moved higher in Dublin trade today.
