Genus hit by knock-on from lower pork and dairy prices

The group's overall performance was helped by a resilient pig farming sector and a huge upswing in Asian market performance. Global porcine volumes were up 5 per cent, and margins expanded by four percentage points. But the dairy and beef division struggled, with adjusted operating profit down 16 per cent at constant currencies partly due to depressed milk prices. Attempts to mitigate long-term decreases are two fold; short-term profit management and long-term product changes. Acquisitions and increased research and development spending are expected to enhance the group's offering, which management hopes will make the business more resilient.

Asian sales have at last seen the effects of the group's strategic realignment, with adjusted operating profit up 93 per cent at constant exchange rates. Management is anticipating this upswing to continue into 2016, but warned the unusual farming market in China could cause prices to go down again.

Broker Peel Hunt is anticipating adjusted pre-tax profit of £50m for the year to June 2016, leading to adjusted EPS of 55.1p, up from £48.9m and 54.5p in FY2015.