Summary
The Board of Directors and Management of FirstFarms A/S have today reviewed and adopted the un-audited half year report for the period 1 January - 30 June 2012.
Expectation to result for the year is affected negatively by drought and low market prices for milk
- FirstFarms has in the accounting period realised a turnover of DKK 35.5 million, an EBIT result of DKK -4.6 million and a pre-tax result of DKK -7.7 million. The results are below the expectations.
- In Q2, the milk price has been significantly below the expected, and the earnings from milk have thus been less than assumed.
- The sales prices on grain and oil seed are higher than expected. For a significant part of the crops, contracts for sale were entered as mentioned in company announcement 5/2012. FirstFarms has thus not in full gained the impact of the significant increases in the crop prices during the latest months.
- As a consequence of too little rain in the growth period, the harvest in Romania and Slovakia has been significantly below the expected for the harvested crops. The crops which have not yet been harvested are considered to give yields corresponding to the expectations.
- All in all the harvest for 2012 is considered to contribute negatively compared to the assumed.
- It is expected that the milk prices in Q3 and Q4 will be lower than expected. The milk production has in the first half year been significantly below the assumed. FirstFarms has decided to set out the lowest yielding cows, and no more cows will be bought until the production is considered to be completely in harmony. The number of cows will thus be lower than assumed. In total, the earnings from milk are expected to be significantly less than assumed.
- In the light of the above, FirstFarms scales down the expectations of profit to an EBIT result in the region of DKK 0 to DKK -5 million compared to earlier expectation of an EBIT result on par with 2011 (DKK 17 million).
- Action plan is initiated, which is expected to contribute with positive effect on the operation prospectively.
Billund, 21 August 2012
FirstFarms A/S
For further information:
Please visit our website www.firstfarms.com or
contact CEO Anders H. Nørgaard on telephone +45 75 86 87 87.
