Strong momentum continues in all segments delivering a record EBITA of EUR 103.6 million; 23.9% higher than in H1 2011
* Revenue of EUR 2,354.5 million; an increase of 10.8% compared with the first
half of 2011, of which 4.7% is organic volume growth
* EBITA Animal Nutrition increased by 22.2% and EBITA Fish Feed up by 24.6%
* Expansion of operations in Brazil by increased shareholding in Fri-Ribe and
acquisition of farm mineral company Bellman
* Excellent performance in China both in Animal Nutrition and Fish Feed;
strong growth in Shihai fish feed business (acquired in October 2011)
* Earnings per share from continuing operations increased by 45.9%
* Sale of Hendrix substantially completed, gain on sale of EUR 18.9 million
* 2012 interim dividend of EUR 0.60 (2011: EUR 0.50) in cash or shares
* New Executive Board in place from August 2012
* Outlook: In an uncertain environment and based on current trading
conditions, Nutreco expects full year EBITA before exceptional items of
approximately EUR 260 million (2011: EUR 231.6 million)
Key figures
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(EUR x million) H1 2012 H1 2011 Â Â Â Â Â Â D%|
| |
|Revenue 2,354.5 2,124.5 10.8|
| |
|EBITDA before exceptional items from continuing 131.9 109.9 20.0|
|operations |
| |
|Â Â Â Â |
| |
|EBITA: Â Â Â |
| |
|Animal Nutrition 73.1 59.8 22.2|
| |
|Fish Feed 44.0 35.3 24.6|
| |
|Corporate -13.5 -11.5 17.4|
| |
|EBITA before exceptional items from continuing 103.6 83.6 23.9|
|operations |
| |
|Â Â Â Â |
| |
|Result after tax from continuing operations 62.6 42.7 46.6|
| |
|Result after tax from discontinued operations 19.6 2.2 Â |
| |
|Total result for the period 82.2 44.9 83.1|
| |
|Â Â Â Â |
| |
|Basic earnings per share from continuing operations 1.78 1.22 45.9|
|(EUR) |
| |
|Dividend per ordinary share (EUR) 0.60 0.50 20.0|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Wout Dekker, CEO Nutreco:
"As this is the last time I will present Nutreco's results it gives me special
satisfaction to report a record first half year with EBITA of EUR 103.6 million,
passing EUR 100 million for the first time. Equally, I am pleased to report that
both Animal Nutrition and Fish Feed contributed to the success with all business
segments performing better than the same period last year."
"As in 2008 we again see that the tight balance between supply and demand in
agricultural raw materials has had a serious impact on prices. The rising prices
for feed raw materials are having an impact on the production costs of livestock
farmers. This explains the ongoing R&D commitment of Nutreco to explore
alternative and less expensive raw material options and to increase the
efficiency of feed formulations."
"Against this background Premix and Feed Specialties improved on the equivalent
period in 2011 and is making progress in establishing and implementing the
Application and Solution Centres ('ASCs') for Europe and North America. The ASCs
facilitate innovation and the development of attractive value propositions for
customers, with good progress in developing the Go-to-market strategy. In Iberia
the compound feed and meat businesses benefited in difficult economic conditions
from their market leadership positions. The first half year saw a shift in our
portfolio towards growth geographies and segments as we completed the divestment
of the Hendrix business. Nutreco extended its activities in Brazil by increasing
its shareholding in Nutreco Fri-Ribe to 97% and by acquiring Bellman Nutriçao
Animal, a Brazilian supplier and producer of farm minerals and concentrates for
ruminants. In Russia we are working on the construction of a new factory for
young animal feed, concentrates and premixes which will be operational by Q4
2012."
"The half year saw strong volume growth in Fish Feed, especially for salmon,
with shrimp feed further increasing in significance due to the contribution of
the Shihai feed business in China acquired in October 2011. To support
activities in Asia, Skretting's Aquaculture Research Centre is establishing a
research centre close to this plant. The great potential for aquaculture to
expand globally and especially in Asia was one of the key themes of the
AquaVision 2012 conference organised by Nutreco. Over 400 delegates from 33
countries heard keynote speaker Kofi Annan state that aquaculture has strong
potential to contribute to the reduction of hunger in the world, especially in
Africa. He congratulated the industry for its focus on improving productivity
and sustainability, saying: "I do not ask you to change direction, but I ask you
to accelerate progress." The conference also addressed current developments to
overcome the challenges facing aquaculture, including advances such as the
MicroBalance(TM) concept of Nutreco's Skretting that is helping to make
aquaculture more sustainable."
"The results and business developments in the first half year show Nutreco is on
track in implementing the strategy 'Ambition 2016 - driving sustainable growth'.
We also succesfully raised USD 250 million in long-term debt from the private
placement market to further diversify our funding structure and to extend our
debt maturity profile in order to support our strategic objectives."
"As per 1 August, I hand over to Knut Nesse as Chief Executive Officer of
Nutreco. Viggo Halseth will become Chief Operating Officer Aquaculture and has
been appointed to the Nutreco Executive Board. This will create a strong
Executive Board comprising of Knut Nesse (CEO), Gosse Boon (CFO), Jerry Vergeer
(COO Agriculture) and Viggo Halseth (COO Aquaculture). Both COOs have long
experience in their respective sectors. I'm confident the new Executive Board
has the commitment and competence to successfully implement the strategy."
Outlook
The strong first half year results give confidence for the full year results in
2012. In an uncertain environment and based on current trading conditions,
Nutreco expects the full year EBITA before exceptional items to be approximately
EUR 260 million (2011: EUR 231.6 million). Historically Nutreco's result is
weighted towards the second half of the year due to seasonality in Fish Feed.
Agenda 2012
* Develop higher margin portfolio of nutritional solutions
* Focus on Premix and Feed Specialties and Fish Feed
* Continue drive for operational excellence in mature markets
* Grow in geographies Latin America, Russia, China and Southeast Asia
* Start implementing the actions from Sustainability Vision 2020
Calendar 2012:
18 October: Trading update third quarter
Ambition 2016
Nutreco's 'Ambition 2016 - driving sustainable growth' is to grow and improve
profitability by providing innovative and sustainable nutritional solutions for
its customers and is expected to result in an EBITA of EUR 400 million by 2016.
This will be realised by focusing on a higher margin portfolio of nutritional
solutions such as premixes, feed specialties and fish feed, and by expanding
into the growth geographies of Latin America, Russia, China and Southeast Asia,
which will see the largest increases in both production and consumption of
animal protein food products.
* * * * *
Nutreco
Nutreco is a global leader in animal nutrition and fish feed. Our advanced feed
solutions are at the origin of food for millions of consumers worldwide.
Quality, innovation and sustainability are guiding principles, embedded in the
Nutreco culture from research and raw material procurement to products and
services for agriculture and aquaculture. Experience across 100 years brings
Nutreco a rich heritage of knowledge and experience for building its future.
Nutreco employs approximately 10,000 people in 30 countries, with sales in 80
countries. Nutreco is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam
and with annual revenues of EUR 4.7 billion in 2011.
www.nutreco.com
For more information:
Jurgen Pullens, Director Investor Relations and Corporate Communications,
Nutreco
Telephone: +31 (0)33 422 6134
Mobile:Â Â Â Â Â +31 (0)6 515 99483
E-mail:Â Â Â Â Â Â jurgen.pullens@nutreco.com
The full press release is attached in the pdf below
Strong momentum continues in all segments - Nutreco:
http://hugin.info/133565/R/1629278/521784.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Nutreco via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1629278]