HONG KONG, Oct. 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the leading chicken meat products supplier in China, DaChan Food (Asia) Limited ("DaChan Food" or the "Company", stock code: 3999) announced its results for the three months ended 30 September 2014 on 31 October. In the second half of 2014, the breeding and rearing industry began to recover. Under the direction of the Group's strategy of 'de-risking, enhancement of food production", the Group effectively secured contracts of day-old chicks at market price, lowering the cost of day-old chicks; consolidated and improved the production lines of slaughtering and food processing, enhancing efficiency of the factories; and optimized retail product mix, which resulted in an overall improvement in its operating performance. Turnover of the Group for the first three quarters was RMB8.4 billion, basically unchanged comparing to that of last year, while the profit attributable to equity shareholders of the Company surged to RMB9.59 million.
During the period under review, the market prices of hog and day-old chicks recovered after hitting a trough, which benefited feed sales to external customers and steady development of the broiler breeding and rearing segment. The feed segment in Vietnam has extended its positive growth as the local industrial breeding and rearing industry achieved robust development. The segment also enhanced its control over costs and expenses, and recorded improvement in various operating indicators. The processed food segment was affected by Japanese yen depreciation and negative incidents concerning the food safety of western fast food chains in China. As such, despite advances in the scale and performance of the domestic professional catering business, the total turnover and gross profit of the processed food segment decreased. Overall, the Group's turnover remained flat during the reporting period while its gross profit and gross profit margin increased.
Mr. Han Jia-Hwan, Chairman of the Board of DaChan Food, said, "After experiencing a trough over the past two years, the industry has recovered gradually. In weathering such times, the Group improved and refined its capabilities and has become stronger, which is vindicated in the better control of risks associated with breeding and rearing, stricter control of costs and improved product mix, with rewards seen in significant improvement of the Group's performance despite of a still challenging economic environment. In September, the Group held a press conference in Beijing in respect of the launching of a traceability certification platform. The platform fully demonstrates the effective operation of the Group's food safety traceability system covering the whole production chain, and will help satisfying the requirements of retail customers and brand promotion in the future."