Isagro sales jump by 63%

Italian agrochemical company Isagro (Milan) recorded a 63.2% jump in sales in the third quarter of 2007 to Euro 36.6 million ($49.2 million). The results accelerate the recovery recorded in the first half, when sales rose by just over a quarter compared with the corresponding period last year. The new South American companies that were acquired last year contributed Euro 10.1 million of the Euro 14.2 million increase in third-quarter sales.

 

Isagro acquired a 50% stake in Italian agrochemical company Sipcam's Brazilian operation, Sipcam Agro, in July 2006. The new subsidiary, renamed Sipcam Isagro Brasil, was consolidated at 50% within the Isagro group in October last year. Sales from the company were better than expected. The Brazilian market is "recovering, in particular with regard to the herbicide and insecticide sectors", Isagro says.

 

The company's operations in Latin America are run jointly with Sipcam. Their joint venture, Isagro Sipcam International, purchased stakes in distributors in Colombia and Argentina in 2006.

 

The company also points to the contribution of strong product performers to its third-quarter results. "Copper fungicides continued performing very well, thanks to Isagro's innovative formulations," the company says. Tetraconazole sales are "recovering" after high stock levels in the US delayed purchases.

 

The company says that there were no significant sales of its rice herbicide, orthosulfamuron, which was launched in the US this year. The company is to sell a granular formulation of the product in California next year. Isagro has also launched the herbicide in Colombia as a straight formulation and expects growth with the introduction of mixtures. It has launched the fungicide, kiralaxyl, in Portugal and Italy. There were no significant sales in the third quarter, but the company expects new registrations across the EU in 2008.