Buying group confident despite lower turnover

Agricultural buying group Anglia Farmers has insisted that business is still strong, despite reporting a fall in revenue last year.

Turnover for the year-ended 31 January 2010 was down by £3.6m (2.5%) on the previous year to £142.1m, but the group said underlying growth was still about 14%.

It said the latest results were a reversal of the previous year (year ended 31 January 2009), when the rapid increase in fertiliser and fuel costs contributed to an “unrealistic” 52% rise in turnover and underlying growth of 30%. The small decrease in turnover this year reflected the declining costs of these two major inputs, it said.

The net surplus, to be retained in reserves, was £142,000 after paying £68,480 to members to recognise the fact that fertiliser price inflation during the previous year had generated a windfall levy for members. Net assets increased to £1.51m (up from £1.4m).

“With the fluctuations in two of our main inputs, this has been a most challenging year and is the first time Anglia Farmers’ turnover has not grown,” chairman George Bell, said.

“The challenge for us now is to encourage our members to buy more of their inputs through us. A broad-brush calculation, based on the breakdown of cropping submitted to us by our members, suggests that our turnover would exceed £250m if they bought all their variable inputs through the group.”