February 9, 2006

Australian Agricultural Company hopes to enter Brazil
 

Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) is hoping to extend its operations to Brazil, the world's largest beef exporter.

The company is looking for opportunities to manage investments in northern Brazil, AACo chief executive Don Mackay said. However, AACo will not put up any capital for these investments, he added.

The aim is to get Brazil to understand the business, Mackay said. Although Brazil has great land assets and a favourable climate for cattle, it faces a lot of problems in the areas of herd health and infrastructure. This creates a need for AACo to work closely with producers there, Mackay said.

AACo is Australia's largest cattle company with more than 500,000 cattle across 22 cattle stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The company yesterday posted a A$16.8 million (US$12.4 million) annual net profit on revenues of A$183 million (US$135 million) for 2005. Mr Mackay said the 2005 result was satisfactory, given difficult seasonal and market circumstances such as drought, abnormal rains, flat cattle prices and higher fuel costs.