Agroton to double EBITDA in 2010

Kyiv, October 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Agroton agricultural holding (Luhansk) is planning in 2010 to have an EBITDA indicator twice that of 2009, at $42.4 million, Agroton Director General Yuriy Zhuravlev has said.

"We plan in 2010 to get $27 million in net profit and double [our] EBITDA," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

Agroton in the first half of 2010 saw sales fall by 25.5%, to $19.67 million, while its net profit grew by 2.1 times, to $28.42 million, through the revaluation of biological assets and agricultural products. Its EBITDA in the first half of 2010 was $37.55 million, against $21 million for the same period last year.

Currently, Zhuravlev, the holding's founder and executive director, is a major shareholder of Agroton, with a stake of 74.99996% (11,999,994 shares).

Agroton, founded in 1992, is one of the biggest agricultural producers in Eastern Ukraine. The company leases 134,000 hectares of farmland and controls elevators with a capacity for 235,000 tonnes of grain. The holding specializes in grain and oilseed crops, the production and sale of livestock products and the production of baked goods, pasta and cheeses.