POTATO BREEDING GROUP HZPC SAYS IT EXPECTS TO INCREASE TURNOVER, AFTER RECLAIMING MONIES TAKEN BY CYBER CRIMINALS.
POTATO breeder HZPC has reclaimed a large amount of money formerly stolen by cyber criminals and is now on track to increase its annual turnover.
British Potato Review reported earlier this year that cyber criminals had targeted the group in September, stealing a large, undisclosed amount of money. The group has now managed to reclaim this money from a blocked account where it had been held after notifying authorities and a subsequent forensic investigation, details of which cannot be disclosed.
Royal HZPC Group expects to achieve a similar result for the financial year 2023 / 2024 (July – June) as in the previous financial year, with an expected increase in financial turnover of 4%.
The group had already reported low European yields in its February quarterly report. However, the potato breeding company managed to sell more top-of-seed potatoes than was expected a quarter ago therefore its European operations are expected to show better results. In other regions there were setbacks, partly because high potato yields led to oversupply.
Group CEO Gerard Backx said: ‘We expect the total tonnage we sell and/or which is sold by licensees, to increase by 5% compared to the previous year. We will probably be within 1% of reaching the million tonne milestone.’
Low European yields, especially in the Netherlands, lead to a 6% decrease in the expected tonnage that’s being sold or has already been sold. In contrast to this decrease, there is an expected growth of 23% in the tonnage grown under license. This is mainly down to positive developments in America and Asia. With the changing ratio between direct sales and tons produced by licensees, combined with the increased sales prices, Royal HZPC Group expects the financial turnover to increase by 4% compared to last year’s realised turnover of €423 million.
Additionally, the potato breeding company anticipates a fractionally higher gross margin of €72 million and fractionally higher normal operating costs. However, there is still consideration for higher total costs owing to potential provisions for debtors in politically unstable regions, it states.
The group expects a net result between €5 and €7 million. In the two previous financial years Royal HZPC Group realised a net result of €7 million. These figures do not include costs of the Connecting Growers program.
