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Ilovo Sugar (Malawi) Limited says its profit-before-tax for the year ending March 31, 2007 rose to K6.8 billion from K4.2 billion realised in the same period last year.
The profit after tax has risen to K4.8 billion this year from K2.8 billion recorded last year.
The company says sugar sales on the domestic market continued to grow supported by national depot and distribution system.
As of September last year the company had achieved about 40 percent growth in its revenue largely because of good markets in Europe.
In its financial statement for the year ending March 31, 2007 published on Friday, Illovo attributes its success to a tremendous growth in cane production, especially at Nchalo Estate, with cane production growing 10 percent higher than last year and sugar production reaching 288,460 metric tonnes from 269,526 metric tonnes in 2006.
Last year’s estimates of sugar production show that the company expected to produce about 280,000 metric tonnes of sugar.
The growth in the production of sugar this year has also been attributed to smallholder farmers who, according to Illovo, made a significant contribution of 204,323 metric tonnes of cane, representing 13,000 metric tonnes higher than last year.
On exports, Illovo says export revenue was increased by additional European Union (EU) quota allocations as a result of the inability of other quota holders to fully supply their entitlement.
The company said EU export prices also improved due to favourable movements of the euro exchange rate.
Looking into the future, Illovo says it will continue to invest and capital expenditure in excess of K1 billion was applied to the replacement of fixed assets and on marginal expansion projects during the year.
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