Net profit at Thailand's largest agro-conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) rose by 17% last year to 18.79 billion baht ($630 million), but it suffered a setback in the fourth quarter. Total income rose 79% to 374.85 billion baht ($12.55 billion) from 209.01 billion.
CPF posted a net profit of 237.9 million baht ($7.97 million) for October-December, down from a revised 2.45 billion baht a year earlier. The 90% drop was blamed on an outbreak of shrimp disease, weak domestic meat prices, and higher animal feed costs due to a drought in the United States.
Bloomberg News reported that CPF's annual net profit was lower than the 20.2 billion-baht average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. CPF itself explained that total expenses rose 83% to 355.3 billion baht in 2012. The company is expanding farms and animal feed plants in China and other Asian countries to boost earnings. In November, it blamed lower prices for meat products and higher raw material costs for a 53% dip in third-quarter profit to 2.4 billion baht.
Owned by Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, CPF said its goal is to achieve 700 billion baht of annual sales within the next five years, double its performance in 2012, for an average annual growth of 10-15%. Adirek Sripratak, its president and CEO, said that the company faced volatility in the world economy and in many countries, along with many external factors that challenged to the agro-industrial and food business in 2012.
