MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Rusagro, one of Russia’s largest agribusinesses, posted an IFRS net loss of 578 million rubles ($19 million) in January-March 2013 compared with a net profit of 558 million rubles the previous year, the company said on Monday, citing lower prices for certain products.
Rusagro’s revenues for the reporting quarter increased by 2 percent to 6.417 billion rubles ($211 million) while EBITDA fell by 64 percent to 541 million rubles ($18 million), with the EBITDA margin declining to 8 percent from 24 percent a year earlier.
Meat segment revenues fell by 12 percent to 1.074 billion rubles due to lower pork prices, while revenues in the oil and fat segment grew by 7 percent to 1.95 billion rubles due to price growth, the company said in a statement.
Sales revenues from agricultural output increased 7 percent to 852 million rubles “as a result of the increase in sales prices and grain sales volumes, which was partly eliminated by a decrease in the sales volume of sugar beet.”
“The company continued to increase production and invest in new facilities. The first quarter of 2013 results were negatively impacted by the low sugar beet content of the 2012 crop, low pork prices and high sunflower seed cost. This impact will also be partially felt in the 2Q,” Rusagro CEO Maxim Basov was quoted as saying in a statement.
