CHERKIZOVO GROUP has said it will not go ahead with a planned secondary public offering on the Moscow Exchange because of “challenging market conditions”.
The company is the largest vertically integrated meat and poultry producer in Russia.
The firm said in its first quarter results that poultrymeat sales volume was up 10% year-on-year at 151,000t, on the back of additional volumes from two recently acquired assets, Altai Broiler and Belaya Ptitsa.
In addition, average sales were up 26% according to the firm. Turkey sales declined in the first quarter by 16% to 8,200t.
The company said it was focused on increasing production of value added products, and that average sales prices for turkey improved by 53% compared with the previous period.
In explaining the decision not to issue shares, chief executive Sergei Mikhailov said: “While feedback from investors and the market generally was supportive of Cherkizovo’s compelling story, the current capital markets environment does not appear to be conducive to realizing our objectives of creating a broad, liquid market for our shares at a valuation which we believe reflects the strength of our market leadership position, operating performance, dividend potential and the attractive potential we see in our business.”
