ABB grain profit jumps six-fold after expansion

Net profit after tax was between A$47 million (US$33 million) and A$49 million in the year ended September 30, the Adelaide-based company said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. That compares with net income of A$7.3 million in the same period a year earlier.

ABB formed a joint venture with France's Groupe Soufflet to expand into the Ukraine in August and exported its first Ukrainian shipment of feed barley to the Middle East. The company had forecast profit of as much as A$38 million on May 27.

The advantage of investing in the Ukraine is that ABB is able to supply its regular customers in the Middle East and Asia with more grain, especially given the recent harvest in Ukraine, the largest in almost two decades,'' managing director Michael Iwaniwsaid in the statement.

The company is due to announce its full-year accounts to the exchange on November 25.