The company's income rose by 109 per cent to US $61.6 million compared to US $29.4 million in 2006.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 56 per cent year-on-year to US $115.3 million compared to US $74.2 million the previous year.

Group gross profit rose by 51 per cent to US $223.8 million compared to US $147.8 million.

Gross margins increased to 27 per cent in 2007 from 23 per cent in 2006.

Sales increased by 33 per cent to US $840.8 million compared to US $631.6 million the previous year.

Cherkizovo acquired OJSC Kurinoe Tsarstvo at the end of August last year and with the acquisition the company is now the largest producer of poultry products in Russia.

Last year the company also opened a new pig slaughtering line at the Penzensky meat and poultry plant and acquired more than 28,000 hectares of land in the "Black Earth" farming region close to our Tambov pork facilities.

Cherkizovo was granted the certificate of compliance with GOST R ISO 9001-2001 quality management system last year.

Sergey Mikhailov, Chief Executive Officer of Cherkizovo Group, said: "We are delighted to be able to report this strong set of results for our business in 2007. With sales up by 33 per cent, net income more than doubling as well as margin improvement we have continued to deliver real value for all our shareholders.

"During 2007 we have continued to take major steps towards achieving our aim of becoming Russia's leading producer of meat and meat products. The business grew in scale substantially during the last year, and we have doubled the size of both the pork and the poultry divisions.

"This was achieved through our dual track strategy of organic growth from existing and expanded operations and carefully selected acquisitions such as that of OJSC Kurinoe Tsarstvo that compliment our existing business. We are also pleased with the attractive scale achieved by the company as demonstrated by our pro forma sales in 2007 of US $933.7 million.

"Overall we have meaningfully expanded our business, through new state-of-the-art facilities, increased operational efficiency, and, at the same time, delivered excellent financial performance and increasing margins despite an environment of increasing grain prices. We look forward to 2008 with confidence."