Greenyard NV, the Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium-headquartered vegetable and fruit production and marketing company, on August 27 reported sales of €1,149.3 million during the first quarter of fiscal year 2020. This represented double-digit growth of 11.4% over the same period the year before.
According to a press release issued by the Greenyard, the positive result was “mainly driven by faster than expected organic growth in a large number of commercial relationships, with a focus on margin improvement and profitability, as well as a positive Covid-19 impact on volume within the Fresh segment.”
The Fresh sector volume increase amounted to a 12.9% sales rise of €959 million. This was attributed to the strengthening of a large number of long-term commercial relationships, in addition to a surge in at-home consumption of fruits and vegetables at a time when restaurant traffic and business at other foodservice operations collapsed due to government-imposed lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic that originated in central China late last year and has infected populations throughout the world in 2020.
There was a 4.6% increase to €190.3 million in Long Fresh (primarily Pinguin brand frozen products) sales notwithstanding negative Covid-19 impact on volume. This segment grew despite volume losses in the foodservice and industrial customer segments due to disruptions from the virus.
