Spain’s Ebro Foods has reported higher first-half profits, helped by a rise in sales and boosted by the disposal of assets in Madrid and Puerto Rico.
Ebro booked a net profit of EUR87.6m (US$96.4m) for the first half of 2016 – a 46% year-on-year increase compared to EUR59.62m for the same period last year.
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The pasta-to-rice group said the result was boosted by the positive evolution of its core businesses and extraordinary income generated on the sale of the Puerto Rico rice business and a property in Madrid.
Ebro booked operating profit of EUR135.2m, up 26.6% on the first half of 2015.
Sales grew 2% to EUR1.21bn. Revenue from Ebro’s rice business inched up 0.7% to EUR637.5m. EBIT was up 15.2% at EUR81.9m.
Ebro said US business Rice Select business, which the Spanish group acquired last year, “had a particularly outstanding performance during the quarter”, with double-digit growth.
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By GlobalData“In a scenario of stable commodity prices, except for Japonica rice and special varieties for risotto and paella in Europe, the development of this division is satisfactory, underpinned by the good performance of the businesses, with growth in the categories with the highest value added, Sabroz, specialty, aromatic, ready to serve and instant rice varieties,” Ebro said.
Sales from the company’s pasta division, which also includes products like sauces and pizza, rose 4.2% to EUR609.3m. EBIT rose 20.3% to EUR51.4m.
Ebro said raw material prices remained more or less at the levels to which they fell in the second half of 2015, “although the quality of the crop in southern Europe is not as good as in previous years”.
In France, Ebro said the strong growth of the brand business could be attributed to the success of gnocchi for frying, sales of which rose by 45%, “the sturdy development of smaller businesses such as couscous, with a 20% growth in sales, and ready meals, which were up 30%.
