Associated British Foods H1 profit down to GBP142m
Company aims good progress with capital investment programme as a major contributor for future growth
Associated British Foods has reported a profit of GBP142m, or 17.6 pence per share, for the first 24 weeks of the fiscal year ended February 28, 2009, compared to GBP208m, or 25.6 pence per share, in the same period of the previous year.
For the first half of the fiscal year ended February 28, 2009, revenues were GBP4.37 billion, an 18% increase compared to GBP3.71 billion in the same period of the prior year. Operating profit was GBP260m, a 7% decrease compared to GBP281m in the year-ago period.
It said that this year the cash outflow on working capital was more than £100m lower than the previous year due mainly to a reduction in commodity prices and an additional emphasis on working capital control.
According to the company, net debt for the group was £295m higher than last half year at £1.14bn and £352m higher than last year end. £75m of the increase since last year end is attributable to the translation of debt in foreign currencies following the substantial weakening of sterling but the gain on translation of foreign currency assets more than offset this.
George Weston, CEO of Associated British Foods, said: This is a reassuring set of results achieved in a difficult economic environment. Strong profit growth was delivered by sugar and Primark but grocery was adversely affected by high priced contracts in US corn oil. Good progress was made with the capital investment program which will be a major contributor to our future growth.
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