The Ukrproduct Group, a large Ukrainian producer of packaged butter and processed cheese, saw GBP 0.74 million of net profit in H1, 2019 that is 1.8 times more than over the same period in 2018.
According to the company’s report posted on the London Stock Exchange, Ukrproduct revenue saw 1.5-fold rise, reaching GBP 22.24 million, and gross profit grew by 1.55 times, up to GBP 1.93 million.
Through the first six months of 2019 operating profit of the company totaled GBP 0.4 million compared with operating loss of GBP 0.19 million in H1 2018.
As at June 30, 2019, the group had total liabilities of GBP 16.8 million against GBP 15.1 million in 2018, net assets and net assets of GBP 1.3 million million with cash balances of GBP 0.2 million.
According to the group, the main drivers of revenue growth were butter, beverages and processed cheese. The Company estimates that Ukrproduct’s butter market share in Ukraine has increased by approximately 3% to 10.1% when comparing H1 2019 with H1 2018, whilst market share in processed cheese and processed cheese products has decreased by approximately 0.3% to 8.5% when comparing H1 2019 with H1 2018.
“However, in the first half of 2019, Ukrproduct became the top exporter of processed cheese in Ukraine. Hard cheese sales decreased by 2%, whilst sales of bulk & packaged spreads increased by 17%,” the group said.
As the group said, sales of kvass beverage improved, driven by an active marketing strategy and the launch of a new product containing natural ingredients of juice and mint.
The most significant portion of the Group’s revenue comes from selling packaged butter and supplementary products, which represented 57.2% in the first half of 2019 and 45.9% in first half of 2018 of total revenue for the relevant periods.
Export sales of Ukrproduct increased due to rising export sales in supplementary products, however, export sales of packaged butter and spreads decreased overall. Skimmed milk products exports continue to decline as a result of worldwide prices being lower than domestic market prices.
The Group continues to expand export sales into non-dairy products: beverages and other food commodities.
Ukrproduct Group produces branded dairy goods (the Nash Molochnyk, Narodny Produkt, Vershkova Dolyna and other trademarks).