Avangard agroholding, the largest Ukrainian producer of eggs and egg goods, saw a 92% decline in net loss in January-March 2016, to $3.97 million.

The holding said in a report on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), its consolidated revenue decreased by 45%, to $39.84 million. Export sales revenue amounted to $15.4 million or 39% of the company's consolidated revenue.

Gross profit amounted to $8.3 million, a decline of 43% year-over-year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to $9.57 million, an increase of 50% year-over-year.

Operating profit increased to $5.3 million ($160,000 in Q1 2015).

Production of shell eggs totaled 627 million units, a decline of 40% year-over-year. As at March 31, 2016, the total poultry flock was down by 33% year-on-year to 13.5 million heads and the number of laying hens decreased by 36% year-on-year to 10.7 million heads. The decrease in the poultry flock size was due to the full suspension of laying farms in eastern Ukraine close to the conflict zone.

Avangard sold 475 million eggs to third parties in Q1 2016, a decline of 55% year-over-year. In Q1 2016 exports of shell eggs decreased by 31% year-on-year to 75 million units, largely due to the unstable situation in Iraq, one of the company's key export markets for shell eggs. The share of export sales reached 16% (Q1 2015: 10%), split between three export markets: Iraq, UAE and Moldova.

The average sales price of shell eggs increased by 43% year-on-year to 1.53 UAH per unit, excluding VAT due to inflation and increased share of sales to supermarkets and exports.

In the first quarter of 2016, the production of dry egg products rose by 37% year-on-year to 1,575 tonnes.

Sales of dry egg products declined by 50% year-on-year to 1,638 tonnes (Q1 2015: 3,251 tonnes) due to unusual high sales in Q1 2015.

In the first quarter of 2016, exports of dry egg products declined by 35% year-on-year to 1,387 tonnes (Q1 2015: 2,120 tonnes), largely due to the volatile situation in the MENA region. To offset this, the company has started to increase sales to the more stable countries in the EU. As a result, in the first quarter of 2016, sales to the EU accounted for 76% of the total export volume of dry egg products (Q1 2015: 19%). The average sales price of dry egg products increased 8% year-on-year to $5.68/kg.