Duda flexes its muscle

Meat producer PKM Duda is on track to meet its financial prognosis for 2006, which foresees a net profit of zł.43-45 million with sales revenue coming in between zł.950 million and zł.1 billion.

"We do not rule out that we will increase the prognosis," the company's financial director, Rafał Oleszak, said.

The company earned 53 percent of its expected 2006 profit and over 50 percent of its predicted revenues in the first six months of the year. PKM Duda's net profit in H1 of 2006 amounted to zł.23.2 million, which was a 37-percent increase year-on-year. Sales revenue grew by 25 percent to reach zł.496.2 million.

The company's export sales jumped by 21 percent in H1 of this year and currently represent 18 percent of the company's revenue. Duda's goal is for 25 percent of its revenue to come from foreign markets, and it is focusing on Asia. The firm already exports to South Korea.

"Our sales [in South Korea] amount to $500,000 [zł.1,539,550] per month. Next year we want it to reach $1 [zł.3.08] million," PKM Duda's president, Maciej Duda, said. In the third quarter the company will start sending its products to Japan. "We have all the necessary certificates and permissions. We are waiting for other Polish companies to blaze the trail," vice president Roman Miler said.

Duda also wants to increase its slaughter efficiency, which grew by 27 percent in H1 2006. "We would like to slaughter 5,000-6,000 units of cattle per day compared to the the current 3,000," Maciej Duda said, adding that the company wants to achieve a 10-percent share of the Polish market within the next two years. Currently, it holds between five and six percent. PKM Duda wants nearly half of its pig stock to come from its own farms, compared to just 10-15 percent now. By consolidating German venison producer Hunter Wild, Duda also hopes to gain in the German, French and Austrian markets.