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(Alliance News) - National Milk Records PLC on Tuesday said its profit and revenue had risen during its first half, and has a positive outlook for the rest of the year.
AQSE-listed National Milk Records is a Chippenham, England-based agri-tech company, providing information on the production, health and fertility of cattle to the UK dairy industry. For the six months ended December 31, its turnover was up 6.1% year-on-year to GBP11.4 million from GBP10.8 million.
National Milk attributed the growth to its strategy of focusing on its core business, where revenue grew by 8.5% year-on-year, having not been hurt adversely in the comparative period.
Pretax profit was up 53% to GBP750,000 from GBP491,000 a year prior.
National Milk noted that the UK dairy market has surpassed pre-pandemic levels with sales of dairy products in supermarkets notably higher in 2021 than 2019.
However, milk yields fell in the second half of the calendar year 2021, as input costs increased and labour shortages hurt production. This is a market opportunity for NMR, however, as its services will become increasingly important to help boost yields, the company said.
National Milk notes a volatile macroeconomic situation looking ahead to the second half, with inflation, interest rates, employment levels and wage inflation all increasing, but ultimately has a positive outlook for the rest of the year.
As usual, it did not propose an interim dividend, following the full-year dividend for financial 2021 of 1.50 pence per share.
"In the first half of the year, we continued to invest in line with our strategic plan, focusing on our core services, and pursuing opportunities for step-change. We are enjoying the first revenues from our new genomics facility and are moving closer to the commercial launch of Genocells, a disruptive technology that will enable NMR to target sectors of UK dairy farmers that hadn't previously adopted NMR's traditional recording service," Managing Director Andy Warne commented.
National Milk shares were untraded on Tuesday morning, last quoted at 97.1 pence each in London on Friday afternoon.
By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com
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