November 1, 2006

Finland's Atria Group expands meat processing operations in Russia

Finnish meat processor Atria Group has embarked on its plan to build a new logistics centre and meat production plant in Russia.

The EUR 70 million production plant, to be sited in the St. Petersburg area, would be completed by the end of 2008.

For the first nine months of the year, turnover has risen by 12.3 percent to EUR 805 million compared to EUR 717 million last year.

However, profits fell with operating profit down to EUR 23.7 million compared to EUR 29.8 million last year.

Atria Group's third-quarter turnover increased 13.5 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. The operating profit came to EUR 12.7 million compared to EUR 13.9 million last year.

Operating profit for Finnish operations remained at last year's level while the company's Swedish operations recorded a 30.8 percent increase in operating profit on-year to EUR 3.4 million.

In Finland, Atria said its development for the rest of the year would continue to be steady. Due to weak earnings early in the year, Atria Finland's full-year earnings are likely to remain below last year's level.

Atria's sales would continue its strong growth in Russia but full-year earnings are expected to remain in the red, mainly due to one-off costs incurred during the second quarter.