FRUIT IMPORTER Fyffes said trading in the first four months of the year was well ahead of the same period in 2007 and that it was targeting a rise in earnings before tax and interest in the mid-teens for 2008.
The company also expects a low double-digit percentage increase in adjusted earnings per share for the year, in line with current market expectations.
"The increase in profits in 2008 will be significantly weighted towards the first half of the year, taking account of the relatively more difficult market conditions in the early part of last year," executive chairman David McCann told the company's annual general meeting yesterday.
Higher year-on-year prices across all of the company's operations during the remainder of the year would be necessary to offset the impact of the continuing increases in the cost of fruit and fuel, said Mr McCann.
"Our costs are going up significantly. We have no choice but to look for price increases," he said.
However, the company could also benefit from a drop in its annual duty bill which is under negotiation at the moment. "Our working assumption is that our duty bill goes down by a third, and then it is matter of negotiating with a number of people about how much of that we could hold on to and that is a very substantial amount of money because our current duty bill is €100 million," said Mr McCann.
A number of shareholders voiced dissatisfaction with the 1 cent final dividend announced by the company and said the €37.6 million the company received as part of its settlement with DCC should have been distributed among shareholders.
"We have always felt it is a volatile business, so we should be financially conservative," said Mr McCann. "On top of that, we are at a time in the industry where we can benefit from development opportunities, so for that reason we want to use the cash to develop the business."
Mr McCann said he would not comment on the Fyffes/DCC insider trading case.
"As regards Fyffes, we took the case out of respect and obligation to our shareholders. We are glad to have won it and we are glad to get a large amount of money," he said.
