Bangkok--14 Nov--CPF
Mr. Adirek Sripratak, President and Chief Executive Officer of Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc. or “CPF”, said as a result of the acquisition of businesses in China and Vietnam at the beginning of the year, CPF’s sales for the first nine-month of 2012 increased to 262,955 million baht or increased by 71% from 2011 and net profit increased to 18,552 million baht or increased by 36%.
For the third quarter of 2012, CPF’s net profit was 2,404 million baht, or dropped by 53%, mainly as a result of a decline of gross profit margin of farm business compared to the same period of last year. The dropped in gross profit margin caused by lower meat price and higher production cost from higher major raw material price. In 2012, there were various external factors affecting CPF’s business such as extensive drought in the United States which adversely impact raw material price, together with economic uncertainty and oversupply situation. As a result of unfavorable business conditions, CPF will not be able to achieve its profit target for 2012.
However, CPF foresees that all situations will improve from now on and CPF will continuously invest in projects as it planned. Most of the investment will be for overseas business expansion. For investment in Thailand, CPF will focus on food related business including an increase of production capacity of ready meal products and expansion of food distribution channel such as CP Food World, a new business model of CPF, which just launched its first branch at Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital. For 2013, CPF expects its sales to continuously grow by 15-20% from this year.