Profits jump at Agrii parent company

Agronomy specialist Agrii’s parent company has achieved a 10% increase in pre-tax profits for the year to 31 July 2019.

Origin Enterprises, which is based in Ireland and operates globally, saw its pre-tax profits rise from €70.3m (£62m) in 2018 to €77.2m (£68m) in 2019, according to the full-year results published on Wednesday (25 September).

The group’s turnover also increased from €1.6bn (£1.4bn) to €1.8bn (£1.6bn).

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Origin Enterprises has three separate reporting segments: Ireland and the United Kingdom; continental Europe; and Latin America.

The Ireland and United Kingdom section saw its revenue grow from €1,038.1m (£918.2m) in 2018 to €1,159.4m (£1,025.5m) in 2019.

Tom O’Mahony, Origin Enterprises chief executive officer, said: “Our business has performed well, with the group benefitting from favourable organic and acquisition growth.

“A 15.6% increase in operating profit was recorded while continuing to deliver strong free cashflow generation.”

Good demand levels in Ireland and the UK offset the effect of a more challenging operating environment in continental Europe, said Mr O’Mahony.

However, demand for agronomy services and crop inputs for Ireland and the UK is expected to normalise, and be lower in 2019-20 than the above-average market demand levels seen in 2018-19.