Chief Executive Mark Dewdney announced today that PGG Wrightson Limited’s (PGW) trading performance is holding up well despite lower forecast dairy payouts. He reiterated previous guidance in October that PGW is on track to better last year’s Operating EBITDA excluding earnings of associates* of $58.7 million.
Mr. Dewdney said “The current market conditions highlight the benefit to PGW of having a diverse product and service portfolio across New Zealand and international agricultural sectors. Confidence remains high in the sheep and beef sectors and this strength should see the business well placed if we encounter reduced dairy related spend over the remainder of the financial year.”
“Our first half results will be strong compared to the corresponding period last year which is very pleasing” Mr. Dewdney said. “Revenue in our Retail segment is weighted towards the first half of the year and has performed well. We believe that market share gains have contributed to this revenue growth we have seen in our Retail business. New Zealand Seeds is another business unit that has performed well on the back of a strong spring season.”
Mr. Dewdney contributes these successes to the renewed focus on the customer. “Over the past few years we’ve invested substantially in our people, our infrastructure and our products to improve our offering to our customers. This investment continues to deliver improved results”.
“Further guidance will be provided when our half year results are announced” Mr. Dewdney said. “There remains some uncertainty with respect to the second half of the financial year as we are starting to see some signs of market softness in areas related to dairy. Livestock, Seeds Australia and South America all make their biggest contributions in the second half, and results are also impacted by weather and commodity prices”.
PGW expects to announce its half year results on 24 February 2015 with details of the announcement to be confirmed closer to the time.
