Marfrig, the owner of Northern Ireland's largest poultry processor, has recorded a profit of £18.3 million just a year after making a £38 million loss, reports Belfast Telegraph.

The figures were revealed in a financial report filed at Companies House in Belfast.

Moy Park was sold to the Brazilian company in 2008 for £450 million.

A restructuring programme in 2008 to improve business performance helped contribute to the company's profits in 2009.

The company's financial report shows that despite the "challenging conditions" faced by the food industry, Mafrig increased its sales by almost six per cent from £737.7 million to £780.6 million in 2009.

Moy Park employs 6,920 full and part-time staff in Northern Ireland, England and France.

In May, Moy Park announced it was acquiring rival chicken processing firm, O'Kane Poultry, based in Ballymena, for an undisclosed sum. However, there are ongoing fears that the take-over process could result in up to 30 redundancies.

Moy Park was heavily advertised during the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa alongside international brands like Adidas and Coca-Cola during England's match against Germany.