Rolf Penner- Another story from down under for those who say a voluntary wheat board just wouldn’t work.
WHEAT exporter and agricultural services group AWB has more than doubled its annual profit, benefiting from strong demand for fertiliser, seeds and farm chemicals as the drought eased.
AWB shares closed up 7 per cent, or 18, at $2.79 after the company said that net profit rose 137 per cent to $64.3 million for the 12 months to September 30 from $27.1 million in the previous year.
Chief executive Gordon Davis said the overall result was strong, and the performance of the Landmark Rural Services unit, which provided services to farms such as fertiliser sales, was a standout.
Landmark benefited from increased agricultural activity across the country, he said.
“The pleasing thing was that the result was achieved while the company continued to go through considerable change,” Mr Davis said.
The Federal Government cancelled the company’s monopoly on wheat exporting in 2006 following revelations of bribes paid to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. To expand the business, AWB moved into handling other commodities such as barley and maize as well as bolstering the service to its existing wheat growers and improving the performance of Landmark, and Mr Davis said it was pleased with its strategy. (more)
