Herd investments lift LIC profit 7.3pc

LIC is a farmer owned cooperative which sells bull semen and provides a dairy genetics database. Photo / Craig Bell

Livestock Improvement Corporation, which compensated some farmers for selling bull semen that caused 'hairy calf' mutations, increased first-half profit 7.3 per cent as dairy farmers raised their herd investment, even as farmgate prices fell.

Net profit rose to $30 million, or $1.017 a share, in the six months ended November 30, from $28 million, or 94.7 cents, a year earlier, the Hamilton-based company said in a statement yesterday. Sales rose 9.6 per cent to $131.5 million, though LIC typically gets most of its revenue in the first half of the financial year and doesn't recognise costs until the second half.

"In good and in challenging times, farmers invest in products which will have a material impact on the profitability of their animals and the performance of their farms," chairman Murray King said. "Growth in demand has been seen across all our product and service offerings."

LIC, a farmer owned cooperative listed on the stock exchange's NZAX, sells bull semen and provides a dairy genetics database.

The board didn't declare an interim dividend. The shares were trading at $5.60 today.