Construction Begins on Europe’s Largest GP Hatchery

August 18, 2008- Aviagen has announced the building of a new Grand Parent hatchery in
Hilbersdorf, near Dresden, in Eastern Germany.  The new hatchery will
be the largest in Europe and have a capacity of 1,000,000 eggs per
week.

The new facility will enhance Aviagen's European supply network, which provides customers with top-class breeding stock from hatcheries in the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Hungary, as well as via key European distributors based in Northern Ireland, Spain, France, Sweden and Finland.

The construction of the hatchery falls under the management of Ross EPI, Aviagen's Central European operation, who have been working diligently with suppliers, architects and the German authorities to ensure that the hatchery contains the most state-of-the-art technology and meets Aviagen's high standards of biosecurity.

Construction began in June and the hatchery is expected to be operational by January 2009.  The location of the hatchery is a continuation of Aviagen's policy of establishing production facilities close to customer bases, as it is situated within minutes of a major motorway network, less than 100 km away from the Czech and Polish borders and within 70 km of two major airports, Dresden and Leipzig.