IRELAND: Origin Enterprises earnings slip

By: just-food.com | 11 March 2010

The CEO of Origin Enterprises maintained that the company had performed well in its first half despite recording a 16% fall in revenues and an 18% fall in EBITDA.

The company, which owns ambient food importer Shamrock Foods and pasta brand Roma, saw group revenues reach EUR596.8m (US$815.3m) down 16% on the same time last year. Group EBITDA fell 18% to EUR23m. Revenues from its food division fell 12% to EUR81.3m.

Origin CEO Tom O'Mahony said: "Origin has performed well during the first half of 2010 in a difficult trading environment. Year-on-year comparisons are impacted by increased seasonality as agricultural activity becomes more concentrated towards the second half of the financial year with customers adopting a cautious approach and deferring buying decisions until closer to the main application periods."

"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," said O'Mahony.

"The recent uplift in primary output markets, while welcome, has yet to noticeably impact farm incomes. The business environment remains challenging, however we remain confident for the full year and expect to deliver consensus market expectations. We will continue to focus on cash generation and operational efficiencies to ensure the business is well-positioned to respond to new opportunities as they arise."

Origin is 71.4% owned by Aryzta, the Swiss bakery group. Arytza publishes its full-year results on Monday (15 March).

Full details of the company's results can be found here.

Sectors: Baby food, Chilled foods, Commodities & ingredients

Companies: Aryzta