Silver Fern Farms cites tough sheep market in profit slide

Silver Fern Farms cites tough sheep market in profit slide
Gavin Evans
By Gavin Evans April 1 (BusinessDesk) - Silver Fern Farms says poor trading in its sheep meat business contributed to a 62 percent decline in full-year profit. Sales in 2018 rose 9 percent to $2.4 billion but net profit fell to $5.8 million from $15.4 million in the 2017 calendar year. The year-earlier figure was reduced by $10.2 million of one-off costs, mostly related to the closure of the firm’s Fairton processing plant near Ashburton. While the Dunedin-based company had achieved a “back-to-back profit”, chief executive Simon Limmer...