January 19, 2011

MHP seeks poultry exports to EU in 2011

Mironovskiy Hlebproduct (MHP) expects to receive European Commission approval for meat exports to the EU later this year, MHP's head of investor relations Anastasiya Sobotyuk said Tuesday (Jan 18).

"We're optimistic on the EU exports certification to start exports in 2011," Sobotyuk stated.

The company currently exports most of its poultry meat to East European and Middle Eastern markets, she said.

The company, a leading agriculture group focused on grain and potato growing, also expects the Ukrainian government to carry out the planned land reform to allow purchases of large plots of land, exceeding three hectares, in 2012, Sobotyuk said.

MHP, a major Ukrainian poultry producer, is currently leasing its arable land from "thousands of individual small land owners," she said. The London-listed MHP may also consider a secondary public offering on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Kapelyushnaya said without elaborating further on the timing and volume details of the possible SPO.

The company, however, doesn't foresee the need for a debt issuance on foreign markets "at least until 2015," Sobotyuk said.