Despite a slight dip in revenue, agriculture firm Japfa has reported strong earnings growth nearly five times that of the same nine-month period last year.
The company, which farms chickens, cows, pigs on a mass scale, experienced a slight y-o-y revenue dip of 2.5% to US$2.84 billion for the nine months to Sept 30.
However, with steady growth in its China-based dairy business and also its pig farms in Vietnam, Japfa reported earnings of US$130 million for the same period, up 479.4% y-o-y.
“This performance is a testament to our resilience and our ability to execute even amid persistent challenging conditions due to Covid-19,” says CEO Tan Yong Nang.
“It is also clear that the initiatives taken in recent years to achieve greater diversification across proteins and countries have been crucial to build our strength, weather downturns and tackle market challenges,” he adds.
Tan says that Covid-19 has accentuated the importance of food security and domestic production.
“Our business model to 'produce locally and consume locally', coupled with the ability of our teams in each market, is bringing results and has proved effective during these extraordinary times”,” he says.
Japfa shares closed Oct 29 at 62 cents, up 0.81% for the day.
