BUMPER HARVEST BOOSTS PROFIT
LISTED agribusiness GrainCorp bolstered its defences against a looming mouse plague as the latest drought broke across the east coast, helping it to deliver a booming underlying profit from a bumper harvest.
The Australian processor, storer and wholesaler of grains and oilseed said it had prepared its silos in the face of the impending mice explosion.
“We were not at all surprised by the mice in plague proportions, we were somewhat expecting it after the size of the crop and the sustained drought,” CEO Robert Spurway said. GrainCorp boosted underlying first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by $35m to $140m from the prior comparable period. Revenue for the six months to March 31 rose 31 per cent to $2.6bn.
The company said it now expected full-year EBITDA to be in the $255m$285m range from $230m-$270m, with underlying net profit in the $80m$105m range compared with the previously forecast $60m-$85m.
“Our agribusiness earnings were up substantially, driven by the much larger crop and increased grain volumes in our network,” Mr Spurway said.
Underlying first-half net profit of $51m was a near doubling of last year‘s $27m result. But on a statutory basis net profit fell 87 per cent to $51m due to one-off items.
A fully franked interim dividend of 8c a share was declared.
No dividend was paid for the first half last year.
GrainCorp shares rallied 23c to $5.39 on Thursday.