Norofert took a loan of 4.1 million lei for investments

The producer of organic inputs for agriculture Norofert (NRF) contracted a loan through the IMM Invest Plus program, in the amount of 4.15 million lei, for the purchase of irrigation systems and equipment for agricultural crops, according to a company report published yesterday. on the website of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).

The irrigation equipment is for an area of 340 hectares out of the 1,000 hectares operated by Norofert at the farm in Zimnicea, the total value of the project being almost 4.9 million lei. The company's contribution from its own sources is 15% of the investment value, i.e. 0.73 million lei.

The base interest applicable to the loan is ROBOR 3M of 6.24%, to which is added the interest margin of 1.9% per annum. "The interest will be subsidized at a percentage of 100% from the budget of the Ministry of Finance for a maximum period of twelve months from the date of granting the loan", according to the BVB report.

The loan was contracted from CEC Bank.

For the first nine months of the year, Norofert reported operating income of 35.5 million lei, down 37% compared to the same period last year, while net profit fell 85% to 1 , 13 million lei. According to the company, the decrease in net profit was mainly determined by the increase in financing costs, as a result of the increase in bank interest costs related to new contracted loans. "The situation of grain prices combined with the high temperatures made the year 2023 bring a loss for the farming operation in Zimnicea. The loss from farming can be found both in Norofert's result and in that of Agroprod CEV", according to the company's financial statements for the first three quarters of last year.

In October 2023, the company revised the Revenue and Expenditure Budget for last year, given that, following an analysis carried out by Norofert management regarding several factors that influenced the agricultural sector starting from May 2023, a difficult situation was identified which exceeded any prediction based on historical data from Romanian agribusiness.

The stock market valuation of the company amounts to approximately 75 million lei.