Foot-and-mouth hits Genus profits

By FWi staff

ANIMAL breeding, genetics and farm consultancy company Genus blames foot-and-mouth disease for wiping over 1 million off its year-end profits.

In April, the Crewe-based company announced that it could only reach 50% of its customers, because of disease restrictions.

It still managed pre-tax profits, taking into account the effects of foot-and-mouth, of 6.1m for the year ended 31 March, compared with 5.9m the year before.

Turnover was up by 22% to 163m, 19m better than the previous year.

However, the company predicts that the disease will continue to stifle the bottom line, with profits hit by a 1m a month until UK farming returns to normal.

A new international focus will gain the company extra market share in the UK and abroad. This, it hopes, will fill the short-term revenue gap caused by foot-and-mouth in the UK.

But shareholders and farmers alike might be buoyed by Genuss predictions of a more promising UK livestock market.

The company believes milk and livestock prices will harden creating increased demand for its consultancy and genetics services as farms re-stock after the crisis.

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