Fyffes pre-tax profits of €10.2m down on first-half of last year

FRUIT IMPORTER Fyffes has announced pre-tax profits of €10.2 million for the first-half of 2010, compared to €12 million for the same period last year.

Adjusted profits before tax totalled €13.3 million as against €18.6 million a year earlier.

Total operating profit for the first-half, including the group’s share of Blackrock’s International Land losses, amortisation and the joint ventures tax charges amounted to €10.1 million, compared to €12.1million for the same period a year ago. Adjusted earnings before interest and tax reached €13.1 million as against €18.1 million last year.

The company said it is maintaining its full-year Ebitda target of between €14 million and €18 million. Total revenue was €403 million, up 1 per cent on the €400 million recorded for the same six-month period a year earlier.

Fyffes said sales were higher in the group’s US winter melon category and lower in the banana and pineapple categories during the first-half. “Trading conditions were difficult for much of the first half of the year as previously indicated, resulting in a significant reduction in profits in the group’s banana category,” said Fyffes chairman David McCann.

Mr McCann said market conditions had normalised during the summer and the group was pursuing increases in selling prices in all sectors it operates in. Net interest income in its subsidiary companies in the first-half were €0.2 million, as against €0.6 million in the same period last year.

Adjusted fully diluted earnings per share were €3.38 compared to €4.46 in the same period last year. An interim dividend for the year of 55 cent per share was declared.