Value of poultry companies plummet

Hundreds of UK poultry companies have seen their value plummet over the last 12 months, according to recent research.

The report, by industry analysts Plimsoll, surveyed the top 731 companies in the poultry market and found 255 companies had lost over a third of their value in the last year.

A total of 423 companies were worth less than the previous year.

Senior analyst at Plimsoll, David Pattison, said there were fundamental reasons for the decline in value over the 12 months.

“It’s not surprising that the value of companies has taken a pounding recently but the extent of the squeeze is striking,” he said.

“A number of factors have affected values. As demand slackened and companies were inclined to protect their market share, many saw profitability fall as a result.

“Declining margins have been the biggest weight on values in the market. The 255 companies that have suffered 30% and more falls in their value have all seen their profit margins plunge too.”

Mr Pattison said the report had been planned for two years but it was only recently the industry became stable enough to accurately measure.

“Valuing a company during the turbulence of the past few years has been a ‘finger in the air’ exercise in guesswork.” he said.

“With conditions now more stable, we have released the study to show how much each company in the UK poultry industry is worth and what affect the recession has had on their health.”

Even considering the large falls in value, Mr Pattison said he was confident for the future, based on the companies which had managed to still record growth.

“Despite it all, 308 companies are now worth more than they were last year. Considering the malaise in the market over recent years that is a quite remarkable achievement. I hope it points to better times ahead,” he said.