ProTen may beat forecast earnings

ProTen, Australia's largest independent contract grower of broiler chickens for meat, expects to meet or exceed its forecast earnings this financial year as it develops the world's largest chicken farm.

The Sydney-based company, which is into the final month of its financial year ending June 30, told shareholders "the financial performance of the business is forecast to be on or better than budget", according to a newsletter posted to New Zealand's Unlisted market where its shares trade. It didn't provide further details ahead of its earnings release next month. In the 2015 financial year the company boosted profit 59 percent to A$6.8 million and chair John Signal told the company's annual meeting in November that profit growth is forecast to continue for the next five years as planned development projects and acquisitions are completed.

ProTen's history stretches back to a single shed developed by Max Bryant in Halcombe in 1987, processing 140,000 chickens a year. Having expanded to Australia, where all its operations are now based, the company is on track to process 70 million chickens a year in 268 sheds.

It has long-term supply contracts with Baiada Poultry, Australia's biggest chicken processor, and is developing 80 sheds at Narrandera Farm in New South Wales, which it believes to be the largest meat chicken farm in the world. The first eight sheds at Narrandera were placed with chickens on April 28, it said.

The company noted it is getting more efficient developing its farms. It took an average 14 days per shed to construct 48 sheds at its Rothdene and Jeanella developments between 2012 and 2014, but just an average 10.4 days per shed to build 16 sheds at Jeanella South, a project completed in the first week of April, while the Narrandera project is scheduled to take 7.2 days per shed.

"The scale of the project certainly helps but we have effectively halved the construction time per shed in the past four years," chief executive Daniel Bryant said in the newsletter.

The stock, which trades irregularly, last changed hands at $1.15, valuing the company at $130 million.

(BusinessDesk)