São Paulo – Sales by Kepler Weber, a maker of equipment for storage, processing and grain movement rose 80.4% in the first quarter of this year as against the same period last year, according to information disclosed by the company on Friday (11). Revenues with the international market totalled R$ 23.2 million (US$ 11.8 million). In the first quarter of 2011, it had R$ 12.9 million (US$ 6 million).
The Arab world was influential in the result. "The company is prominent in South America and has been establishing new positions in the emerging agricultural nations of Africa and the Middle East,” says the company, in a press statement. It also explains that the good performance in foreign sales is the result of its commercial policy to become one of the main players in the global scenery. Exports represented 21% of Kepler Weber revenues in the first three months of the year.
The company had high growth percentages in trade in the international market, but also in revenues as a whole and in profitability. Net revenues rose 60.9% in the first quarter as against the same period in 2011, rising from R$ 60.7 million (US$ 30.9 million) to R$ 97.9 million (US$ 49.8 million). Gross profit reached R$ 20.2 million (US$ 10.3 million), with growth of 100%, and the net profit was R$ 3.4 million (US$ 1.7 million) as against a loss of R$ 3.2 million (US$ 1.7 million) in the previous period.
Kepler Weber is the Brazilian leader in the grain storage market. The high volume of deliveries was due to the high sector demand, as the Brazilian agricultural sector is living its best moment yet and is “relatively immune” to deterioration of the global economy. "The growing participation of agribusiness in the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and in exports, both in prices and in volume, has boosted producer investment capacity and, consequently, the operations of suppliers of capital goods, like Kepler Weber".
The company is headquartered in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, and controls another company, Kepler Weber Industrial, which has units in Panambi, also in Rio Grande do Sul, and a subsidiary in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. The products made are silos, transporters, dryers and machinery for grain cleaning. The company has been in the market for 85 years and is listed. It has been exporting for over 40 years.
*Translated by Mark Ament
