(Alliance News) - High Quality Food Spa announced Wednesday that its board of directors approved the half-year report as of June 30 reporting a doubled profit to EUR400,000 from EUR200,000 in the same period of 2022.

Sales revenue also increased to EUR9.2 million from EUR8.5 million in the first half of 2022. The increase is 8.0 percent.

Ebitda is EUR800,000 up from EUR600,000 in the same period in 2022, while the margin on sales value grows to 8.1 percent from 6.3 percent in June 30, 2022. The group's marginality has improved due to both lower fixed costs, particularly raw material costs, and more competitive products.

"The increase in food raw material prices following the Russian-Ukrainian war conflict," the note says, "has meant that the group, by focusing on high-end products from the Italian supply chain, has been able to further increase its competitive position compared to cheaper products from abroad.

Ebit is positive at EUR600,000, up from EUR500,000 in the same period last year.

Net financial position is positive, of debt of EUR4.9 million, improving from EUR6.5 million as of Dec. 31, 2022.

As for the future, the note states, "the continuing uncertainties regarding the solutions to the current energy crisis do not allow, at this stage, to express hypotheses in the short term on the evolution of the effects of the crisis on general consumption and, as far as the activity of High Quality Food Spa is concerned, on the food service market in our country. In spite of this, the development policy of the Group's B2B and B2C segments of High Quality Food should allow the Group to continue its growth path despite the uncertainties at the macroeconomic level."

At the same meeting, the board approved a capital contribution for the subsidiary HQF Agricola of EUR600,000, in order to increase the company's capital endowment, "in line with the strategy of vertical integration of the production chain," the note says.

This capital contribution, the company specifies in the statement, "will go to constitute a reserve in favor of HQF" and thus an increase of the same amount in the subsidiary's equity. Thanks to this increase, the company will have, on the one hand, "new resources to allocate to its core business, and, on the other hand, a greater capital endowment and an improved financial debt/equity ratio, which is important in comparison with banks and other financing institutions operating in the agricultural sector."

HQF's stock gives up 5.9 percent to EUR0.71 per share.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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