Moy Park profits up over 50% to €32m

PRETAX PROFITS at poultry group Moy Park rose by more than 50 per cent last year to £27.8 million (€32 million), boosted by the acquisition of rival O’Kane Poultry during the year.

Turnover at Moy Park, which is based in Northern Ireland and owned by Brazilian giant Marfig, increased by 18 per cent to £921.1 million last year from £780.5 million in 2009, according to accounts filed for Moy Park Limited.

The acquired business, which was bought in mid-2010, contributed £61.7 million in sales to the group last year, representing just under 7 per cent of overall turnover.

Pretax profits at Moy Park increased by 51 per cent to €27.8 million last year from €18.3 million a year earlier while operating profit increased by 77 per cent, jumping to £31.6 million in 2010 compared to £17.8 million the previous year.

While noting the increase in raw material costs, the company said “strong sales growth” as well as the acquisition had helped deliver the uplift in sales and profits.

Moy Park, which was purchased by Brazilian food giant Marfrig in 2008, bought Ballymena-based O’Kane Poultry for £26 million in May 2010.

The family-owned O’Kane Poultry business was one of the North’s largest poultry processing companies and had been in business since 1932.

Moy Park, which is Northern Ireland’s largest food company and one of the North’s biggest employers, is a supplier of own-label and branded poultry products to most major retailers in Britain and Ireland, including Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Superquinn and Marks Spencer.

The company had closing shareholder funds of £142.3 million at the end of 2010, compared to £119.3 million the previous year. No dividend was paid to its parent company last year.

Moy Park Limited, which has production sites in England and Northern Ireland, employed just over 7,600 full-time people last year, as well as close to 1,000 part-time staff. Moy Park also has operations in France.

Staff costs totalled £176 million, while directors’ emoluments were £714,000, up from £536,000 the previous year, the accounts show.

Marfrig is one of the biggest food companies in the world, with a presence in 22 countries. Headquartered in Sao Paulo, it had a turnover of 20.6 billion Brazilian reals (€8.6 billion) in 2010.

Moy Park, whose production sites are located in Craigavon and Dungannon as well as other sites in the UK, also owns a number of agriculture assets including mills, hatcheries and some farms. It spent £32 million on capital expenditure in 2010.