Agri-services firm Origin completes exit from Ukraine

Chief executive Sean Coyle has confirmed that the liquidation of the Ukraine arm has now been completed.

“Having reached the end of our journey with Agrii Ukraine today with the liquidation of the business, I want to thank our CFO there, Roman Zabula, for his work in managing the winding down process so professionally over the last few months,” Mr Coyle said in a post on Linkedin.

He added: “Roman has led the small remaining team there through this difficult time with great integrity and good humour.”

Mr Zabula is taking up a new role on Monday with Nibulon, Ukraine’s leading grain exporter.

Origin Enterprises announced last September that it would be taking the “difficult decision” to close its business in Ukraine from the end of that month.

“This decision was taken after much deliberation, given the reduced activity levels and the market dynamics over recent years which have resulted in the business being loss making, with little evidence that the trading environment will improve,” it added at the time.

It recorded €2m in exceptional costs in Ukraine in 2023.

“Activity levels in Ukraine have continued to reduce significantly as a result of the war,” Origin noted when it released financial results last September.

It added that the group has in recent years undertaken a “significant de-risking” of its balance sheet through a sustained focus on reducing working capital.

“The group’s Ukraine business has experienced a number of challenges, most recently as a result of the war with reduced activity levels in relation to on-farm liquidity, however, a volatile trading environment and challenging market dynamics have resulted in the business being loss making over a number of years, with little evidence that the trading environment will improve post war,” it said.

In the year to the end of July 2023, Origin Enterprises saw its revenue rise 4.9pc to €2.5bn. Its operating profits tumbled just over 24pc to €90.8m, however. That was off the back of a strong result in 2022 that was bolstered by high commodity prices and strongly volatile trading conditions.

Excluding the 2022 result, the operating profit delivered in the 2023 financial year exceeded the previous record for the group.