Avangard agroholding , the largest egg producer in Ukraine, saw UAH 1.08 million of net profit in July-September 2015 compared to $47.58 million of net loss a year ago, the company has reported on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

The company said that its revenue over the period fell by 43%, to $55.15 million, gross profit – by 77%, to $5.39 million, operating profit was $7.67 million compared to operating loss of $19.85 million year-over-year, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew by 83%, to $13.19 million.

In January-September 2015, the company posted loss of $150.49 million compared to $5.75 million a year ago. Revenue in January-September 2015 fell by 50%, to $176.48 million, gross profit – by 87%, to $12.92 million, EBITDA was minus $84.3 million (in January-September 2014 it was $108.6 million). Operating loss totaled $102.1 million compared to operating profit of $67.64 million a year ago.

Avangard said that export sales revenue amounted to 40% ($71.2 million) of total revenue in January-September 2015.

In January-September 2015, Production of shell eggs totaled 2.735 billion units, a decline of 47% year-over-year. Sales of shell eggs to external clients amounted to 326 million units, a decline of 29%.

The average sales price of shell eggs was UAH 1.13 per unit, excluding VAT, up by 59% year-over-year. The production of dry egg products amounted to 6,567 tonnes, a decline of 63% year-over-year. Sales of dry egg products totaled 8,695 tonnes, down by 45% year-over-year. As at September 30, 2015, the total poultry flock amounted to 19 million hens, a decrease of 27% year-over-year. The number of laying hens amounted to 13.7 million, down by 26% year-over-year.

Avangard CEO Iryna Marchenko said that the agroholding started to gradually increase our poultry flock at the farms outside the affected regions, with a target to grow production of shell eggs and dry egg products for export and sales through supermarket chains in the nearest future. Avangard continued to develop exports to the EU in line with of our strategy of export expansion. To date, the company is exporting egg products to Denmark, the United Kingdom, Latvia and Italy.

"Our entry into Israel in September 2015 – including some profitable long term shell egg contracts – along with export permission rights and delivery to Qatar for the first time in October 2015 were also key milestones which position the Company well for future growth," she said.

As of September 30, 2015, the total debt of the company was $339.9 million. Net debt reached $297.6 million.

Avangard is a vertically integrated holding company, specializing in the production of eggs and egg goods. It is the largest player in the Ukrainian egg market.