Origin Agritech Limited, an agricultural biotechnology company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and focused on the supply of crop seeds in China, on March 25 announced the unaudited financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007.
The BVI company has recently announced its financials for the twelve months period ended September 30, 2007. Origin Agritech reported revenues in the amount of US$65.2 mln – a 6.23% decrease from US$66.0 in the twelve months ended September 30, 2006. In the first quarter period, the company reported 37% increase of revenues, from RMB 19,24 mln in the three months ended December 31, 2006, to RMB 26.36 mln in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
Gross profit for the three-months period ended December 31, 2007 was RMB3.34 mln (US$457,284), compared to about RMB 2.74 mln (US$375,406). Gross margins for the quarter were 48.3%, that is a 5.9% increase if compared to the gross margin for the three months ended December 31, 2006.
Total operating expenses for the first quarter of this fiscal year were RMB47.01 million (US$6.44 million), compared with RMB 36.90 million (US$4.73 million) for the same period of 2006. The major increase in operating expenses was caused by the increase in research and development expenses, from RMB4.19 million (US$536,281) in the three months ended December 31, 2006, to RMB9.62 million (US$1.32 million) in the same quarter of this year. This is an increase of 129.9%.
Operating loss for the first quarter of 2007 was RMB43.67 million (US$5.99 million) compared with an operating loss of RMB28.73 million (US$3.68 million) for the same period one year ago. Net loss for the first quarter of 2007 was RMB15.37 million (US$2.11 million), compared to a net loss of RMB30.67 million (US$3.93 million) in the same period of the year 2006.
Origin’s balance sheet at December 31, 2007 included cash and cash equivalents of RMB118.53 mln (US$16.25 million), investments in US Government Agency bonds amounting to RMB 131.27 million (US$18 million), working capital of RMB241.40 million (US$33.1million), and shareholders’ equity of RMB285.95 million (US$39.2 million).