By KYIV. Dec 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ovostar Union agro-industrial group, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, saw $29.08 million in net profit in January-September 2023, which is 12.2 times better than the figure for the same period in 2022.
According to the group’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, its revenue in January-September 2023 grew by 36.3% to $123.06 million, mainly due to rising prices for its products.
Gross profit for January-September of this year grew by almost 2.8 times, to $42.64 million, operating profit by 8.2 times, to $29.65 million.
This increase in profitability was also achieved due to a reduction in cost of sales from $66.16 million to $57.40 million due to good feed prices and the devaluation of the hryvnia.
The stability of national currencies also led to the fact that at the end of September of this year, the total profit of Ovostar reached $29.08 million against a total loss of $25.16 million for the same period last year, when the hryvnia exchange rate fell.
The group also reported that its debt on bank loans since the beginning of the year has decreased from $10.93 million to $2.46 million, and is currently represented by a UAH 90 million loan received from Credit Agricole Bank under the government program at 13.05% per annum with repayment at the end of March 2024, while the company fully repaid its obligations to UkrSibbank and OTP Bank.
Ovostar’s free cash jumped to $58.44 million from $12.17 million at the beginning of the year and $5.92 million a year earlier, including in hryvnia for 12 months they increased to the equivalent of $19.77 million from $0.90 million, in Latvia to $33.89 million from $4.76 million.
According to the report, the share of egg sales in revenue decreased slightly to 69.0% from 69.5% in the first nine months of last year, while egg products increased correspondingly from 30.5% to 31%. At the same time, the share of egg exports in total revenue increased from 34.9% to 45.5%, and the export of egg products from 56.6% to 60.3%.
As a result, the total export revenue of Ovostar for January-September of this year reached 50% of total revenue compared to 41.5% a year earlier.
The company, which previously announced the suspension of its investment program amid the ongoing Russian military invasion of Ukraine and the general unfavorable situation in the national economy, invested $8.88 million in January-September 2023 compared to $5.42 million in January-September 2022, with the lion’s share of all investments again in biological assets.
