Global recovery boosts Genus

22nd Feb 2011 07:06

The global economic recovery helped animal breeding business Genus lift revenues and profits in the half year to 31 December.The firm posted a pre-tax profit of £19.1m, up from £15.5m over the same period the previous year, on revenues that climbed to £153.2m from £134.9m."The 14% increase in revenue to £153.2m was driven principally by higher direct sales of porcine genetics as customers returned to updating their herds, following two years of poor customer profitability due to the recession and high feed prices," Genus said. Bovine sales were also higher, the company added."Although some markets are recovering only slowly because of rising feed costs, global agricultural markets have improved since the depths of the agricultural recession last year," chief executive Richard Wood said. "Therefore Genus expects to continue to make good progress during the second half of the year."Genus added that it expects long-term growth to be driven by global population increases and increased urbanisation, which creates more demand for protein in diets