Origin Enterprises, the Dublin head-quartered, international agri-services group, has today (Tuesday, September 24) reported a fall in group revenue and operating profit in its latest set of financial results for the year ending July 2024.
Its group revenue decreased by 16.7% to just over €2 billion – primarily because of “lower global feed and fertiliser raw materials pricing” but this was offset by a 7.1% volume increase driven by a “recovery in fertiliser volumes and strong feed volumes”.
Origin Enterprises’ operating profit dropped back to €83.5 million – from €90.8 million a year earlier, a reduction of 8% and also delivered adjusted earnings per share of 48.06 cent.
It also reported exceptional costs – net of tax – of €4.3 million for the latest financial year under review which included the closure of its operations in Ukraine and redundancy and restructuring costs from the restructuring of its agri UK business.
According to Sean Coyle, Origin’s chief executive officer (CEO) the results for the financial year ended July 31, 2024 (FY24) are a “significant improvement on the last challenging weather year” which was recorded in 2020.
Coyle also highlighted that the FY24 results are “testament to the growth in fertiliser and feed operations, Central Europe and LATAM (Latin America) performance and the group’s ongoing diversification and expansion into Living Landscapes”.
According to Origin Enterprises specific operating profit from from agriculture was €71.6 million – a drop of 10.1% year on year “as a result of adverse weather during key application periods, primarily in the UK and Ireland”.
Origin Enterprises
But the group’s CEO also highlighted that its animal feed joint ventures in Ireland “delivered strong results” in the last financial year largely as a result of the “increased demand for feed due to the poor weather”.
Coyle added: “The group’s performance was supported by the growth of our newly branded ‘Living Landscapes’ operations, which includes our amenity, ecology, and environmental businesses.Â
“We made progress on our strategic objective of expanding our footprint in this space, with the completion of two complementary acquisitions during the year and a further two subsequent to year end.
“Living Landscapes now accounts for 14.2% of the group’s operating profit, up from 12.2% last year and we remain ambitious for further acquisition and organic growth in the coming years”.
The latest financial results published today show that Origin Enterprises’  cumulative acquisition spend totaled €44.3 million in FY24 – which was primarily driven by the completion of its put/call option for the residual 35% interest in Fortgreen in Latin America of €30.9 million.
According to Coyle although trading conditions have been “particularly challenging throughout FY24″ for Origin Enterprises he also pointed to”the resilience” of its business model and increased diversity of its earnings profile.
He has said the group “remains well on track to deliver on its strategic, operational and financial goals”.