Profits Plummet at Bairaha
SRI LANKA - Net profits fell by 47 per cent for the last quarter at one of the country's leading poultry groups, Bairaha.Sri Lanka's Bairaha Farms, a poultry group said net profits fell 47 per cent to 55.1 million rupees (LKR) in the June 2011 quarter with revenues down to 565 million rupees, reports Lanka Business Online.
The firm reported earnings of LKR3.45 per share for the quarter. Sri Lanka's poultry stocks have been speculator favourites with the sector being driven up to high multiples.
The stock closed at 297 on Tuesday and fell LKR12 in intra-day trading Wednesday.
Bairaha Farms interim accounts showed that cost of sales rose 13 per cent to LKR452 million, trimming gross profits 33 per cent to LKR112 million rupees.
The poultry industry is volatile and subject to sudden state intervention.
Sri Lanka's day-old chick and poultry meat and egg prices rose last year amid shortages as the industry recovered amid state controls in retail prices and maize, the main raw material input, adds the report in Lanka Business Online.