Australian beef cattle producer and agricultural business M P Evans Group has seen overall profit drop by 31%, it announced in its interim half-year results.
The group announced that profit for the six months to 30 June 2012 was down 31% from US$22.36m to US$15.33m compared with the same period last year.
The company, which operates in both the cattle sector and the Indonesian palm oil arena, said the results were affected by losses in the Australian cattle market.
Overall agricultural profits for the business were up 15% from US$12.54m to US$14.36m, driven by increases in the palm oil sector.
The company said the beef business had been hit by a double blow of declining cattle prices and a slackening of demand in the south-east Asian market.
Peter Hadsley-Chaplin, chairman of M P Evans, was optimistic: “Overall, the group has performed well in the first half of 2012. Although the beef-cattle operations suffered a loss in the first half, the prospects for Australian beef remains favourable.”
