MOY PARK has recorded growth in both sales and profits in its latest set of financials, which cover the year to 31 December 2019.
Sales at Northern Ireland’s largest company were up 1% to £1.58bn with profits growing by 2%, when compared with the year before, to £74.8m.
See also: Poultry sector defends its record over coronavirus
Directors said the positive performance was down to cost control, “excellent customer relationships” and “a culture of constant innovation”.
Over the year, the firm invested £54m in infrastructure, financed by positive underlying free cash flow.
Net assets grew to £304m, up 21% on 2018, according to the directors’ report.
Employee numbers were slightly up year-on-year to 10,126 (2018: 10,061) across nine facilities in Northern Ireland, England, France and the Netherlands.
Covid-19
The report also recognises the coronavirus pandemic as a post balance-sheet event.
It says that social distancing and other measures had been taken in processing facilities to ensure staff safety and that the company was working to ensure a continuous supply of food.
To protect profitability, Moy Park said it had paused capital expenditure projects, and suspended all non-essential costs.
‘Optimistic’
Foodservice lines had also been suspended in March, but as of late June they were restarting as lockdown is lifted, the company said.
It added that the leadership team took a voluntary 20% salary reduction for three months.
Directors concluded: “With all the mitigating plans and actions in place, and despite the uncertainty of the duration of the pandemic and its economic and social consequences, we are optimistic we can recover a good portion of the financial impact of the challenges we are currently facing, and our results may not be significantly impacted when compared to prior year.”
