A strong performance from North American agri-products operations, combined with new contributions from Australia led to significant increases in both revenue and gross profit for the second quarter and first six months of fiscal 2010 for Viterra.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Despite decreases in commodity prices relative to last year, Viterra’s consolidated sales and other operating revenues increased by $440.1 million to $2.0 billion in the second quarter.
This brought year-to-date revenues to $3.8 billion, up 28.2 per cent or $844.1m relative to the first six months of fiscal 2009.
EBITDA for the quarter was $93.2m up 9.2pc from the prior year’s second quarter, reflecting higher gross margins for the corporation, partially offset by additional operating general and administrative expenses associated with the Australian business.
For the first six months of fiscal 2010, Viterra generated EBITDA of $183.0m compared to $79m a year earlier.
EBITDA contributions from the company’s Australian operations were $28.2m in the second quarter and $94.8m in the first six months of the fiscal year, reflecting strong Australian grain receivals in the first quarter, second quarter shipping delays, and lower-than-planned merchandising contributions due to global competitive pressures.
Viterra’s second quarter net earnings were $18.4m, which compares to net earnings of $26.3m in the same three-month period of 2009.
For the first six months of this fiscal year, earnings were $29.1m, compared to a net loss of $6.6 million in the same period a year earlier.
The results for the first six months of fiscal 2010 were higher than the comparable period due to $23.1m in net earnings from Viterra Australia.
"Overall performance in the first half of 2010 has been solid as we prepare ourselves for what is shaping up to be a busy second half of the fiscal year," Viterra president and chief executive Mayo Schmidt said.
"In Australia, integration is on track. Operationally, we have recently seen demand through our shipping system increase steadily and have experienced heavy movement through the month of May, which we expect will continue into June.
"From a spring seeding perspective, South Australia has had good moisture with widespread rain in late May, providing an excellent start for seeding in that region.
"In our North America operation, we are on track for solid grain movement for the remainder of the year."
