American Dairy posts loss in Q4

American Dairy posted a loss for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2009, affected by a 45% decrease in revenues.

Going forward, the company expects higher revenues from its branded formula products for the first quarter of 2010.

Fourth-quarter net loss attributable to common shareholders were US$26.98 million or US$1.34 per share compared to a profit of US$25.11 million or US$1.42 per share in the year-ago period.

On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn US$0.03 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net loss from continuing operations was US$31.9 million compared with income from continuing operations of US$9.4 million in the year-ago period.

Revenues for the quarter dropped 45% to US$43.96 million from US$79.62 million in the same period last year. Analysts were expecting revenues of US$47.30 million for the quarter.

Revenue from milk powder products was US$20.7 million or 47.2% of total sales, down from US$59.3 million or 74.5% of total sales in the prior-year period, while, revenue from raw milk powder rose to US$18.9 million from US$16.7 million in the corresponding period of last year.

Gross loss for the three months was US$3.04 million compared to a profit of US$36.56 million in the same quarter last year.

The company noted that the decline in revenue and gross profit primarily reflect the impact of cross-territory selling and higher promotional activities during the quarter.