|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 8 June 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
First quarter profits for Three Acre Farms Three Acre Farms Ltd (TAFL), which commands the largest market share for commercial day-old chicks (DOCs), recorded a group turnover of Rs 171.076 million for the first quarter of 2003, which is 25 per cent higher than its turnover during the corresponding three months of 2002. The Group profit after tax of Rs 19.198 million was 204 per cent higher than the Rs 18.444 million loss for the first quarter of last year, Chairman TAFL, Primus Chen Chih Kwong told shareholders. The demand for DOCs remained firm during the first quarter of this year, which could be due to three reasons, Primus said. First, confidence in poultry farming is slowly returning due to improved ex-farm gate prices. Second, producers expect demand to peak during April and May, when most weddings take place. Third, many competitor hatcheries missed their inputs and failed to replace their parent stock flocks during July to September last year, when farming conditions were not conducive. The Chairman pointed out that the Department of Animal Production and Health, in its January 2003 publication, under the headline 'Trends in commercial chick production for 2003', said: "Commercial broiler chick production from January to July 2003 is forecast to decline by 14 per cent over the corresponding period of 2002, on account of reduced broiler parent procurement last year. This declining trend is expected to continue throughout 2003, signalling another year of short supply and possible price hikes of broiler chicks". TAFL's annual report for 2002 said the poultry industry underwent a most difficult period during the first half of the year. Chairman Primus said TAFL's performance was adversely affected by a significant downturn in the demand for commercial broiler DOCs. TAFL was forced to curtail production by up to 70 per cent to balance the collapsing market demand. The poultry industry involves 75,000 farmer families and 200,000 input suppliers. The industry supports more than one million people, according to AIPA. It is valued at Rs 12 billion per annum. Primus said many poultry farmers have lost faith in the industry due to high costs of production as a consequence of government taxes and levies. He said 60 per cent of independent farmers gave up farming during the first half of last year as high taxes continued to plague the industry. Sri Lanka has 45 registered hatcheries. The downturn of the industry had closed over 70 per cent of them. The TAFL annual report said those that still remained afloat are the ones linked to established feed-mills and/or processors. Due to lack of government support, many commercial banks are losing patience and contemplating parate execution to recover the debts owed by many hatcheries. Chairman Primus said that the much anticipated, but much delayed tax relief finally arrived on August 1, 2002 with the introduction of the Value Added Tax at 10 per cent. Now, with increased consumption, chicken products and eggs have increased, vamped by a stable economy, surging tourism and a growing middle class. TAFL, the largest poultry hatchery operator, was able to capitalise on the sudden surge in demand for its products. "We could thus end 2002, brimming with confidence, having slowly recovered from past difficulties," Primus said. During 2002, TAFL produced over 21.7 million broiler DOCs against 22 million in 2001. Since inception in 1987, TAFL had produced and sold 152 million chicks. The company's grandparent farm at Eswatte, operating under Ceylon Pioneer Poultry Breeders Ltd, saw a high level of productivity, increasing output to record levels, Primus said. Development work in TAFL's new 27-acre farms at Wevelpanawa, Padukka under Millennium Multibreed Farms (Pvt) Ltd was almost completed, but since the industry cannot absorb the increased production, the company slowed down installation work. TAFL's total turnover for the financial year increased by 5.1 per cent to Rs 605.314 million while net losses attributed to shareholders was a substantial Rs 61.385 million against a loss of Rs 91.024 million during 2001. The contrasting halves were Rs 79.651 million loss in the first half of 2002 and Rs 18,266 million profit in the second half of 2002. For the year under review, the company paid no dividends to shareholders. It sold shares to the public at Rs 40 each. (EL) |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
