Profits up at agronomy and fertiliser firm Origin Enterprises

Origin Enterprises, parent company to agronomy firm Agrii and fertiliser specialist Origin Soil Nutrition, increased its profit before tax by almost 11% to €79m (£69m).

Group revenue increased by 3% to total €2.1bn (£1.83bn) and operating profit within its agricultural division increased by 2.5% to €73m (£64m).

The company reported strong demand for fertiliser during the past year, supported by strong beef and dairy prices, which had encouraged increased applications on grassland.

See also: Feed and forage supplies set to tighten into 2026

A larger cropping area in the UK also supported demand and led to higher volumes of fertiliser being sold year-on-year.

Meanwhile, fertiliser prices were reportedly fairly stable.

Sean Coyle, chief executive at Origin, said: “Although weather conditions in the key autumn planting timeframe were much improved on the prior year, there were challenges later in the year across the regions, including the driest spring in over 50 years in the UK.

“With grain and oilseed prices weakening throughout the year, farmers were more selective in their spending on inputs. With a strong focus on customers and our product offering, the agriculture business remained resilient delivering market share growth over the prior year.”

Mr Coyle added: “Strong growth in Ireland and the UK was supported by improved winter planting areas and increased input demand for animal and soil nutrition.”

The company has a stake in Irish feed businesses R & H Hall and Thompsons as part of a joint venture.

Animal feed demand was reported as strong across dairy, beef, pork, and poultry sectors.

However, the company’s preliminary results statement also made reference to some redundancies that had been made within Agrii UK as part of an internal restructuring.