Romanian listed farming group Holde Agri Invest will invest EUR 12.6 mln to expand and modernize its farms

Holde Agri Invest (HAI), a Romanian agricultural company operating farmland, prepares to invest RON 62 million (EUR 12.6 mln) in developing its business in 2021. The company will direct approximately RON 30 million (EUR 6.1 mln) into expanding the operated land and another RON 32 million (EUR 6.5 mln) in modernizing its existing farms.

The company plans to raise part of the money needed for these investments through a share capital increase worth RON 29 mln (EUR 5.9 mln) that it will carry out in the following period. Holde Agri Invest is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s AeRO market and has a market capitalization of approximately RON 72 million (EUR 14.6 mln).

“2021 will be a dense year in terms of projects for modernization and optimization of our operational activity. We expect the three farms that we operate to perform even better while we also want to continue to expand the operated land. We look at farms with high potential to quickly achieve our desired operational performance and could be integrated relatively easily into our structure. Our model of restructuring the activity of the farms we acquire has already been tested and perfected during the three years of activity, and we are convinced that it will work effectively in the future as well,” said Liviu Zagan, CEO of Holde Agri Invest.

Holde Agri Invest is looking to acquire farms located in Teleorman, Giurgiu, Calarasi, Ialomita, Olt or Constanta. The capital attracted in the capital increase operation, together with the financing through bank loans, will allow the company to expand the operated land area with 3,000 to 13,000 hectares in 2021. The company is currently in advanced discussions with five large and three small farms that could be easily integrated into the current farm structure and quickly achieve high operational performance.

The company also plans to modernize existing farms, aiming for an increase in the overall profitability. The modernization of farms includes investments in storage spaces, machinery, irrigation, which can maximize production, as well as investments in agri-tech projects that can provide business synergies to Holde.

“For 2021, we have complex plans focused on investments in storage, machinery, irrigation and farm modernization that can maximize production. We also analyze thoroughly investments in agri-tech projects with which we can have excellent synergies. The expansion of the operated land area remains a priority for this year, but we will be selective. Currently, with a significant size of almost 10,000 hectares of land, we have more opportunities than before, both to increase capital and to invest it in profitable Holde projects,” added Iulian Circiumaru, President of the Board of Directors of Holde Agri Invest.

For 2021, Holde aims for consolidated revenues of RON 56,6 million (EUR 11.5 mln), up 29% compared to 2020, and a net profit of RON 7,4 million (EUR 1.5 mln). The management estimates the total production to reach 36,823 tones in 2021. For comparison, Holde Agri Invest ended 2020 with consolidated revenues of RON 43,9 million and a net profit of RON 3,4 million with a production of 24,003 tones.