May 9, 2022

ForFarmers reveals first quarter 2022 trading update

ForFarmers recently released its trading update for the first quarter of 2022.

Highlights for Q1 20221 are as follow:

    - The volume of total feed was down by -7.3%; decline were reported in all countries except Poland, of which compound feed there was down by 8.2%;

    - ForFarmer's gross profit was up by 9.3%, compared to weak gross profit in first quarter of 2021;

    - ForFarmer's underlying EBITDA was down by 47.2%; substantially higher prices for raw materials, energy and diesel could not be passed on fully in the chain.

Roeland Tjebbes, chief finance officer and ad-interim chief executive officer of ForFarmers, said: "The first quarter of 2022 was mainly dominated by the shocking invasion of Ukraine by Russia resulting in awful human suffering. The war also impacts the availability of raw materials, a situation which we are continuously monitoring. Up to now, we have succeeded in continuing to supply feed to our customers and based on the current insights, we can continue to do so.

"In line with our previously stated expectations, we could not fully pass on the price increases of raw materials and energy, which were even higher than expected due to the outbreak of the war. As result, we realised a substantially lower underlying EBITDA in the past quarter despite continued cost savings.

"Recently, we see some movement in the food chain to make consumers pay for the heavily oppressive energy and fuel costs. It is, however, too soon to draw any conclusions from this. In the meantime, the European agricultural sector is fully committed to continuing to ensure food security in a sustainable way. We contribute to this by providing innovative solutions for livestock farmers to help them improve their production and returns on-farm while decreasing their footprint at the same time. This remains the core of our strategy, of which the review is progressing smoothly. We expect to communicate more about this after summer, following the appointment of Chris Deen by the general meeting of shareholders."  

- ForFarmers