Profits up at Cefetra as turnover rises
© Tim Scrivener Grain and animal feed trader Cefetra made a pre-tax profit of £3.05m for the year ending 31 December 2021, an increase of £166,000 on year earlier levels
Turnover reached £1.24bn, up from £1.048bn during the previous year and cost of sales increased by £191m to total £1.22bn.
The UK accounted for £947m of the company’s turnover during 2021 with Europe representing the remaining £292m.
See also: Profits fall at ADM Agriculture in 2021
Cefetra’s grain origination strategy provided growth in volumes and profitability, according to the report to the accounts; however, animal feed sales volumes fell during 2021.
Physical sales volume declined in line with an overall reduction in demand for animal feed.
Director Graham Sinclair said the Russia-Ukraine conflict had created significant increases to market prices and increased volatility.
“The increased price levels increase financial requirements of the company to sustain its activities.
“The company has successfully increased its share of the group committed borrowings following the conflict and is also pursuing further external borrowings to provide additional headroom to negate impacts of any further rises in market prices,” he said.
“The management of the company considers there should be no adverse financial impact on the company from the conflict.”
Alexander Inglis write-off
A debt of £3.7m remains owing to Cefetra following grain merchant Alexander Inglis & Son entering administration in May 2021.
Cefetra had several insurance policies in place to cover instances such as this, but has not yet been able to recover the debt from insurers.
“To date the company has been unsuccessful in recovering amounts from the insurance policies and as such we have taken the provision for the full bad debt,” said Mr Sinclair.
Grain store purchase
Cefetra purchased grain stores at Ormiston, East Lothian and Charlesfield, Melrose, in April 2022, with capacity for about 140,000t.
The stores were both formerly operated by Alexander Inglis & Son and were purchased for more than £7m from the liquidators.
