Copenhagen, Dec 12 - Danish ingredients group Danisco is expected to report an 8-percent drop in first-half operating profit due to the global economic slowdown, a Reuters survey of eight analysts showed on Thursday.
The average estimate for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the half year ended Oct. 31 was 756 million Danish crowns ($133.8 million), down from 824 million in the corresponding period las year.
Sales are seen up 5 percent at 6.4 billion crowns.
"The challenge is to see if they will be able to reap the benefits of raw material costs going down," said Jens Thomsen, senior equities analyst at Jyske Bank. "For a long time they've fought for price increases to make money in spite of the rise in raw materials cost. We'll see if they can maintain the high prices and improve profitability."
In mid-July, Germany's Nordzucker agreed to buy Danisco's sugar business for around 750 million euros. German authorities are examining the deal due to competition concerns.
Danisco has forcast full-year net profit before share-based payments of about 1 billion crowns, with sales of about 13 billion.
Second-quarter consensus figures include 100 million crowns at the pretax level and downwards for one-off items. Estimates include discontinued operations.
The group is due to release its numbers on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
(All figures in millions of Danish crowns except EPS and dividend, which are:
in crowns)
SECOND QUARTER
Mean Median High Low No. Yr ago
Total sales 3.204 3.200 3.295 3.100 8 3.002
EBIT (group) 353 350 418 315 8 376
Pretax profit 361 361 413 330 8 305
Net profit 271 260 325 230 7 317
EPS 5,55 5,32 6,64 4,70 7 6,60
Dividend per share n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Special items -9 -9 0 -20 6 -6
Recommendation n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
FIRST HALF
Mean Median High Low No. Yr ago
Total sales 6.439 6.435 6.530 6.335 8 6.129
EBIT (group) 756 753 821 718 8 824
Pretax profit 704 704 756 673 8 685
Net profit 501 490 555 460 7 1.102
EPS 10,38 10,15 11,47 9,53 7 22,90
Dividend per share n/a n/a
Special items -15 -15 -6 -26 6 -6
Recommendation n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
FULL YEAR 2008/2009
Mean Median High Low No. Yr ago
Total sales 13.138 13.072 13.735 12.576 8 12.219
EBIT (group) 1.453 1.422 1.550 1.400 8 1.499
Pretax profit 1.227 1.199 1.580 1.054 8 1.203
Net profit 999 1.016 1.085 875 6 770
EPS 20,42 20,76 22,18 17,89 6 16,04
Dividend per share 7,38 7,50 7,75 7,00 5 7,50
Special items -36 -46 -6 -50 6 -95
FULL YEAR 2009/2010
Mean Median High Low No.
Total sales 14.026 14.018 15.228 13.314 7
EBIT (group) 1.613 1.585 1.722 1.544 7
Pretax profit 1.363 1.395 1.510 1.204 7
Net profit 907 926 1.001 766 5
EPS 18,54 18,93 20,47 15,66 5
Dividend per share 7,07 7,50 7,50 5,78 4
Special items -4 0 0 -20 5