August 20, 2010

Mironovskiy Hlebproduct's H1 net income rockets

Ukrainian major poultry producer Mironovskiy Hlebproduct's (MHP) H1 net income rose 14% in dollar terms, as chicken meat sales boomed.

"Net income in hryvnia terms increased by 18% to 812 million hryvnias, and in US dollar terms net income increased by 14% to US$102 million, partially due to the foreign currency gains," the London-listed company said.

MHP's chicken meat sales grew 45% in January-June. Revenue increased by 44% to 3.364 billion hryvnias (US$0.43 billion). In dollar terms, revenue rose 39% to US$423 million.

MHP, which also grows grains, said it would not suffer from the drought that has hurt crops in the region and prompted Ukraine's government to consider export quotas.

"The unpredictably hot weather that we have seen in Ukraine and across the region is having a significant growth on grain prices, which will impact all meat producers as grain is a principal component of animal fodder. Contrary to other meat producers, MHP is insulated from the rising grain price due to the vertically integrated business model, and therefore benefits from grain-growing operations," the firm quoted its Chief Executive Yuriy Kosiuk.

MHP said the high cost of grain would start to raise the prices for all kinds of meat in the coming months, though poultry would be less badly affected than pork or beef, which use proportionally more grain.