Trigon Agri A/S: 4Q 2016 Interim Report

2016 Highlights

• Sale of 10% Trigon Agri stake in Trigon Dairy Farming Estonia for €1.5m
• Restructuring of the senior management team, and cancelation of management fee
• Sale of 100% Rostov farming cluster for the price of €13.3m, results in repaid debt and finances Bond interest
• Rostov sale results in a one-off loss of €23.5m, mostly due to exchange rate differences
• Harvest completed with reasonable winter crop yields and strong summer crop results
• Russian Dairy land bank revalued, one-off loss of €5.5m included in the income statement
• Strong EBITDA in Ukraine €10.1m, as a result of a good harvest, despite a low commodity price environment and changes in the Ukraine VAT regime

Q4 Highlights

• Full Bond Debt for Equity swap completed in December 2016
• Overall borrowings at year end reduced to €10.1m against €62.3m at the end of 2015
• Ukrainian banks agree provision of working capital loans for the 2017 cropping year
• Trigon Agri ends the year with a strong positive equity position €30.4m against €0.5m at the end of 2015
• 32 thousand hectares of Winter crops sown, to date in good condition

CEO Comments

2016 has been a turning point for the company. Restructuring of the management, the debt, and sales of non-core assets have had the accumulated result of putting the company in a strong position financially to move forward and focus on achieving solid production and financial results. It has also substantially lowered the overall cost base of the company and we now have a smaller but more effective team.

The 2016 result is inevitably overshadowed by the large losses that have been taken as a result of the divestment program and revaluation of the Russian Dairy land bank. Partly due to substantial currency translation losses, relating to the Rostov transaction and part due to revaluing Dairy landbank. This lead to several one-off losses which have severely reduced the overall financial result, which masks the stable profitable EBITDA result of €10.1m from the Ukrainian farming businesses.

The debt to equity swap of the SEK 350 million Bonds has been pivotal in the survival of the company and this was completed in December, further strengthening the balance sheet.  The previous bond holders are now our major shareholders and are taking an active interest in the development of the company, by assisting the company via the provision of a standby credit facility, which greatly helps with the situation still active in Ukraine with regards to Capital controls. As reported, warrants were offered to the original shareholders, and 95% of all warrants have been subscribed for.

Looking forward to 2017, we established 32 thousand hectares of winter crops, namely Wheat, Barley and Oilseed Rape, to date these are in a good condition. Snow cover at the time of writing is excellent with up to a meter deep in the Kharkov region, this giving a good protection against the winter conditions.

The Estonian milk price has during 2016 remained well below the cost of production at or around the 20 eurocent / litre. Positive news is that due to a now European shortage of raw milk, caused primarily through cow numbers falling as producers left the industry, there has been a dramatic increase in the price to circa 35 eurocent / litre, this above the cost of production.

Telephone conference details:

A telephone conference will be held today, on 28th February, 2017 at 10:00 CET.

Program:

Simon Boughton, the CEO, and Konstantin Kotivnenko, the Executive Board member, will present and comment upon the results. There will be an opportunity to ask questions.

To participate in the telephone conference, please call one of the following numbers:

DK: +45 35 445 575
FI: +358 981 710 493
UK: +442 030 089 808
NO: +47 23 500 254
SE: +46 856 642 690

The presentation material will be available on www.trigonagri.com before the telephone conference starts. A recording of the telephone conference will be available afterwards on www.trigonagri.com.

Investor enquiries 

Mr. Simon Boughton, CEO of Trigon Agri A/S

Tel: +372 6191 500, E-mail:  mail@trigonagri.com 

About Trigon Agri A/S 

Trigon Agri A/S is an integrated soft commodities production, storage and trading company with operations in Ukraine, Russia and Estonia. Trigon Agri A/S shares are traded on the main market of Nasdaq Stockholm.

For subscription to Company announcements please contact us: mail@trigonagri.com

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This information is information that Trigon Agri A/S is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 08:00 CET on 28th February 2017.