Omega Protein, a nutritional ingredient company in North America, has reported a net income of $1.8m, compared to $6m in the same quarter of previous fiscal.

Omega Protein reports drop in Q1 net income

Omega Protein, a nutritional ingredient company in North America, has reported a net income of $1.8m in Q1 2012, compared to $6m in the same quarter of previous fiscal.

The company said that the fall in net income from the first quarter of fiscal 2011 was primarily due to the decreased sales volumes, partially offset by a lower effective tax rate.

Omega also noted a decrease in its Q1 2012 revenues by 30% to $39.7m, compared to $56.4m in the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2011.

The company has posted a 37% decrease in its revenues in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, compared to the fourth quarter of last fiscal.

The ingredients company attributed the drop in revenues to a 44% decrease in fish meal sales volumes and a 25% fall in fish oil sales volumes, and a 7% reduction in sales prices for fish meal.

For the first quarter of 2012, the company’s gross profit was $8.9m, or 22.4% of revenues,compared to gross profit of $15.6m in the first quarter of previous year.

Omega’s selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter were $5.5m, down by $2.9m, compared to $8.4m in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) totaled $7m for the quarter of 2012, compared to $14.2m for the same quarter of previous fiscal.

Omega Protein president and chief executive officer Bret Scholtes said that despite lower-than-normal sales volumes, financial results in the first quarter improved over the fourth quarter of 2011.

"While fish meal pricing remained under pressure in the first quarter, we are beginning to see some positive developments, including improved pricing for competing proteins such as soybean meal and encouraging supply/demand fundamentals," Scholtes added.

In September 2011, the company acquired InCon Processing, a US-based specialty toll processor that uses molecular distillation technology to concentrate a variety of compound products, such as Omega-3 fish oils.