International firm cuts Russian pork production

20-Oct-2013 - Last updated on 21-Oct-2013 at 10:51 GMT

A leading international meat processor announced today that it will “discontinue” its primary pork production in Russia and all other production operations in Moscow.

Atria, which has its head office in Finland, said it will pull production from its “unprofitable” Campofarm primary pork site in Russia as soon as possible.

Its Campomos industrial production and logistics unit in Moscow, meanwhile, will be discontinued by the end of next year. However, the company said it would continue to invest in its St Petersburg operations.

Financial impact

As a result of its Russian pull-out, Atria has lowered its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), expecting earnings to be lower than last year’s, which amounted to €30.2m.

Atria said: “Due to the discontinuation of primary pork production and of production operations in Moscow, Atria will recognise a total of €25m of non-recurring costs, €17.4m of which will be allocated to EBIT.”

The company has also revealed a series of write-downs and said €14.3m will be allocated to fixed assets, €7.6m will be deferred to tax assets and €1.1m will go to other assets.

“The write-downs, which total €23m, will have no effect on cash flow and will be recognised in Q3/2013. Furthermore, €2m will be recognised in Q4/2013 as a provision for expenses related to the discontinuation of the aforementioned operations,” it added.