Strong growth in poultry meat exports have contributed to a 10 percent increase in quarterly revenue for Ukraine based agro-industrial group, MHP S.E.
Total revenue for the first quarter of the year ended March 31 was 10 percent higher than in the same period of 2017 at US$306 million, Mironivsky Hliboproduct, MHP has confirmed in a press release. At US$90 million, net profit stands at a margin of 29 percent for the most recent quarter, which compares with US$57 million and 20 percent, respectively, for January to March 2017.
Despite these improvements in financial performance, the firm’s operating profit was down by 16 percent at US$62 million, and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Depreciation (EBITDA) was US$89 million, or four percent below last year’s first-quarter figure.
Among MHP’s operational highlights for the period was a seven percent rise in poultry production for the first quarter to 152,167 metric tons. Furthermore, the average chicken meat price (per kilo) was 23 percent higher year-on-year in local currency (at UAH38.78), and up by 22 percent in U.S. dollars.
Increased trade — particularly to the Middle East & North Africa, and to the European Union — helped boost MHP’s chicken meat exports for the quarter to 63,144 metric tons.
This is 28 percent more than in the same period of 2017, but at US$162 million, it was not quite enough to match the export revenue achieved in the first quarter of last year. As a result, the percentage of total revenue generated by exports was down year-on-year from 59 percent to 53 percent.
These results are in line with the company’s pre-close trading update published in April.
In the meantime, MHP’s bid to acquire French poultry firm, Doux, has been rejected by a commercial court in favor of a French-Saudi Arabian consortium.
Based in Kiev, MHP is a vertically integrated company with three main business divisions—grain growing, animal breeding, and meat processing. According to the firm’s own web site, it is among the leading poultry companies in Europe, and in Ukraine, it is the largest meat processor, and among the country's top grain producers.
