Graincorp Ltd (ASX: GNC) shares are down 2.5% following a market update.
The agricultural and integrated grain business owns and operates the largest Eastern Australian grain storage and transport network. The company is currently under a $10.42 per share non-binding, indicative takeover proposal from Long-Term Asset Partners Pty Ltd, which was announced in December.
They are also in the process of splitting the business in two, announcing earlier this month they are looking to carve off their global malting division, following a review of their portfolio of assets. They believe the separation will unlock shareholder value.
Market Update
In today‘s market update GrainCorp announced their grain business unit has experienced a disruption to grain trading conditions over the last six weeks, “primarily due to the impact of international trade tensions on grain flows”.
“As a consequence, the grain business unit experienced a deterioration of approximately $40 million in expected EBITDA for the period”.
To give some perspective, in FY18 GrainCorp delivered EBITDA of $269 million. The malt division produced $170 million of EBITDA, oils produced $61 million and the grain division delivered $68 million.
Today’s announcement is a big hit to the earnings of the grain business.
GrainCorp also noted that this has been a challenging period not just because of trade tensions, but also because of the drought conditions in Australia, which has significantly impacted summer crop production, most particularly sorghum.
Buy, Hold or Sell
Typically I don’t invest in agricultural related companies. They are too cyclical and unpredictable for me. I will however be keeping an eye on this one, because I do like spin-offs, and if the carve out of the malting division goes ahead, there may be an opportunity there.
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