Agriculture
May 13, 2011
Astarta Holding 1Q11 Results: Best in the Business - Astarta released its financial results for 1Q11 yesterday (May 12). Sales advanced by 11.5% YoY to USD 69.7mn and EBITDA rose by 15% YoY to USD 34.8mn. The EBITDA margin declined slightly YoY, to 49.9% from 51.2% in 1Q10. Operating profit rose 10.2% YoY to USD 29.8mn. At the same time, pretax profit gained just 4.6%, slowed by a doubling in interest expenses to USD 6.0mn. Although net profit was flat YoY at USD 27.7mn, the net margin slipped 4.6p.p. YoY to 39.7%. We retain our BUY recommendation on the AST stock with a target price of USD 35.0.
