Origin

Enterprises has an acquisition warchest of €150 million

should the right opportunity present, chief executive Tom O'Mahony has told The Irish Times.

He was speaking after the agri-services group reported full-year results, which showed operating profit remained largely flat as favourable currency changes offset “difficult trading conditions” globally.

The company recorded an operating profit of €93 million for the 12 months to the end of July compared with €92.9 million previously, while profit before tax rose by 0.9 per cent to €88.2 million.

Revenue at the Dublin-listed company also rose by 3 per cent to €1.46 billion.

“The business has delivered a very resilient set of numbers for the year,” Mr O’Mahony said, noting the 4.5 per cent increase in earnings per share (EPS), which was in line with guidance.

Uncertainty

However, if the impact of currency, recent acquisitions and a share buyback scheme are stripped out, underlying EPS fell by 1.2 per cent, reflecting the level of uncertainty in the agricultural sector, which has seen commodity prices collapse in the past year.

Mr O’Mahony said the company was “highly cash-generative” with a warchest for acquisitions of €150 million, comprising cash reserves and outstanding bank facilities.

The company recently acquired three on-farm services businesses – two in Romania and one in Poland – while divesting itself of a 32 per cent stake in Valeo Foods, which owns the Kelkin, Batchelors and Odlums brands, for nearly €87 million.

"The divestment of our interest in Valeo Foods together with the recently announced agri-services development in Eastern Europe furthers the group's capital reallocation objectives and provides a solid growth platform from farm services in the years ahead," Mr O'Mahony said.

The company also announced the appointment of two non-executive directors: Gary Britton, a director of the Irish Stock Exchange, and Rose Hynes, independent director of Total Produce and One51.