Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods lowers net debt by 49% in H1 to $280.8 mln
MOSCOW. Sept 4 (Interfax) - OJSC Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods reduced net debt by 49% to $280.8 million in the first half of 2009, the company said in a press release.
The company's operational cash flow increased by 64% to $180.3 million from $109.9 posted in the first half of last year. Free cash flow increased from $13.5 million in January-June of last year to $131.1 million in the first half of this year.
The company's CEO, Tony Maher, commented on this figure: "Our operating cash flow continued to show significant improvement, while our net debt decreased 49.0% year-on-year and stood at $280.8 million, the lowest level for many years"
The press release said that selling and distribution expenses dropped by 23.5% to $184.5 million. This accounted for 17.2% of sales revenue in the first half of 2009 against 16.2% in the same period of 2008. The company said the increase was the result of rising advertising and marketing expenses from 4% to 6.2% of sales revenue. General and administrative costs dropped by 34.1% to $63.8 million.
Total administrative and general expensive accounted for 6% of revenue, down from 6.5% in the first six months of 2008.
The press release said: "In the first six months of 2009, financial expenses increased 119.3% to $25.8 million compared to $11.8 million in the same period of 2008. This was mainly due to currency remeasurement loss incurred in the first half of 2009, as a result of our $250 million syndicated loan taken out in the second quarter of 2008. In the first half of 2009, currency remeasurement loss amounted to $11.1 million compared to currency remeasurement gain of $11.3 million in the first half of 2008."
In the first half of 2009, losses from the rate change came to $11.1 million versus profits totaling $11.3 million for the same period of 2008. The losses from the changing rate of the ruble did not influence the company's cash flow.
Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, one of the leading producers of dairy and juice products in Russia, was formed in 1992 and includes 36 plants in Russia and the CIS, as well as affiliates in 26 cities.
France's Danone owns an 18.36% stake in the company. More than 30% of WBD shares are traded on the NYSE as ADR.
WBD increased US GAAP net profit 27.3% to $101.7 million in 2008. Sales revenue grew 15.8% to $2.82 billion, EBITDA increased 20.1% to $361 million and the EBITDA margin rose to 12.8% from 12.3%.
In the first half of the year, the company's sales revenue decreased by 28.2% to $1.0715 billion from $1.492 billion in the same period of 2008. EBTIDA shrank by 13.9% to $158.3 million from $183.8 million while net profit fell by 17.4% to $64.9 million.