The Donegal Investment Group (DIG), the Irish based agri-food company, saw its revenue drop to €76.2 million for the the 12 months to the 31 August 2018.
The group said that the €200,000 drop in sales was due to adverse weather conditions across all European growing areas, which resulted in a reduction in the availability of seed.
Trading profits were marginally ahead of the prior year at €4.7 million with adjusted operating profit decreasing by €700,000 for the year to €4 million.
Satisfactory Performacne
“The Board is satisfied with the performance of the Group’s trading businesses during the year and the successful return of €45 million in capital to our shareholders in May 2018 which followed several years of work by the Group on realising value for our shareholders from the sale of non-core assets,” Geoffrey Vance, DIG chairman, said.
“As outlined in our interim results announcement adverse weather conditions across all European growing areas resulted in a reduction in the availability of seed, leading to reduced revenues for the Produce division which was partially offset by improved trading margins in key markets. We continue to see certain IPM proprietary varieties grow their market share in key markets such as the UK.”
The group, which has operations across Ireland, the UK, Holland, France and Brazil, said that its Produce division delivered a segmental result of €1.6 million, down €700,000 on the prior year’s trading performance.
Seed Potato, its key business within the Produce division, performed well in key markets, DIG said, but was impacted by a reduction in the availability of seed following lower than expected yields across Europe during the 2017 seed crop harvest.
Its Food-Agri and Property division delivered a segmental result of €3.1 million, an increase of €900,000 on the previous year, while its speciality dairy, which trades under the NOMADIC brand, continued to achieve significant volume and sales growth in its UK and Irish markets.
DIG’s managing director, Ian Ireland, said the the group remains confident in the strong growth potential of the its core seed potato business.
All of its businesses are on plan for the first quarter of its current financial year, and it remains confidence of delivering a satisfactory performance in its seed potato business.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
