OREANDA-NEWS. Cherkizovo Group had announced interim results of its activity in the first half of 2007. According to the pless-release published, the results feature the following highlights:

Financial:
Net income increased nearly 6 times (492%) year-on-year to US $21.9 million (2006: US $3.7m);
Adjusted EBITDA* increased 49% year-on-year to US $44.0 million (2006: US $29.5m);
Adjusted EBITDA* margin increased to 13% (2006: 10%);
Gross Profit increased 51% to US $94.5 million (2006: US $62.7m);
Gross margin increased to 28% (2006: 22%);
Turnover up 21% to US $343.1 million (2006: US $282.7m).

Business:
Strong volume growth in the Poultry Division;
Doubled volumes in the Pork Division as a new state-of-the-art facility at Lipetsk gains momentum;
Strengthened gross margins in Meat Processing Division through focus on high quality value-added product portfolio;
Completed acquisition of OJSC Chicken Kingdom.
 
Sergey Mikhailov, Chief Executive Officer of Cherkizovo Group, said: "We have made an excellent start to our second year as a listed business. We have a clear and proven strategy for the business to grow profits and margins through a combination of organic growth in the Russian market, driving costs out of the business and deriving synergistic benefits from acquisitions within our fragmented markets. In the Meat Processing Division we will maintain our strategy of strengthening the quality of our product range, and in the Pork Division, our leading state-of-the-art facilities are enabling us to significantly increase production volumes. Following the completion on August 28, 2007 of the acquisition of OJSC Chicken Kingdom, we are now Russia's undisputed number one poultry producer and we believe this acquisition has been transformational for the business. The seasonal nature of the business means that performance in the second half of the year will exceed our achievements in the first half-year. With our strong, record organic growth and the acquisition of Chicken Kingdom, we have the scale, strong brands and market share to further pursue our growth strategy."

Mr Mikhailov also added, "The prospects in Russia remain very exciting for domestic producers and we feel that the business is well placed to continue maximizing the opportunities pertaining to this. The management remains confident in the outlook for the full year's results."