Animal genetics biotechnology company Genus PLC on Wednesday said it expects its full-year profit to be in line with market expectations.

The Basingstoke, England based-firm said it expects to meet market consensus for adjusted pretax profit for the full-year ending on June 30 of £73.0 million, with phasing predicted to be second-half weighted.

This would reflect a slight increase from £71.5 million reported in financial 2022.

Genus said its porcine genetics arm, PIC, showed ‘robust’ growth in the first four months of its financial year, noting particularly good performance across North America, Latin America and Europe.

Nevertheless, it said with pig prices remaining low in China, the majority of its producers in the region are loss-making, compared to a ‘relatively strong’ period for Chinese pork prices a year ago.

As a result, Genus said PIC Asia’s adjusted operating profit dropped year-on-year in the four-month period.

As for its ABS business, which focuses on bovine genetics, Genus said adjusted operating profit was lower year-on-year.

In addition, Genus said the start of the current financial year has been ‘challenging’ for ABS due to lower year-on-year volumes ‘partially offset by improvements in prices and mix’.

This includes weaker global milk prices, Genus said, particularly in China, which consequently has resulted in a reduction in the national dairy herd and contributed to lower producer demand for genetics.

Beef demand in Brazil is also weak, driven by macroeconomic pressures on consumer demand.

Shares in Genus were down 2.9% to 2,050.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

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