Hot and dry conditions have burned agribusiness Ruralco’s earnings, sparking a half-year loss only a year after it yielded a $10 million profit.

Managing director John Maher said warmer weather had dried up the demand for agricultural chemicals and suppressed livestock prices.

“Livestock gross profit and rural supplies sales had been seriously affected by unusually dry and hot conditions,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The company is also expecting “continued patchy conditions on the east coast” to hamper winter cropping returns, in the full-year outlook.

Inland rainfall is needed to rejuvenate feed reserves and boost the supply of cattle and sheep, it said.

However, Mr Maher said he was confident the company’s earnings would recover as hot conditions eased.

“The fundamentals of our business and the industry in general remain in good shape, and accordingly a recovery in seasonal conditions should lead to a good response in terms of demand and general confidence levels,” he said.

Ruralco posted a net loss of $500,000 for the six months to March 2013, from a $10 million net profit during the corresponding period in 2011/12.

Revenue fell 7.4 per cent to $495.4 million.

Mr Maher said Ruralco was considering a takeover of Elders’ Rural Services business and expected the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to complete a review of the proposal by the end of May.

Ruralco bought a 12.04 per cent stake in the loss-making Elders group last year.

Ruralco shares were up three cents at $2.83 at 1350 AEST.