Third quarter 2019/20 sales of €983.7 million generated by Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium-headquartered Greenyard were up by +6.4% over results posted during the same period the year before.
Cumulative sales from the vegetable, fruit, flower and plant products specialist’s continuing operations amounted to €2,952.6 million after the first nine months of financial year 2019/20. This equated to an increase of +1.7% versus the first nine months of the previous year. Foreign exchange rates contributed +0.2%, and M&A +0.7%. Organic growth was +0.8%.
The increase resulted from solid growth of 7.9% in the Long Fresh segment (which includes sales of frozen products produced for retail, foodservice and industrial business customers), thus reversing the downward trend that lasted until the first half of the year into growth of +0.3%.
Fresh
Fresh sales totaled €771.8 million, an increase of +5.7% versus the same quarter last year. Greenyard regained volumes in the market during Q3, while in the first half-year loss making volumes were terminated, to a lesser extent combined with product shortages in stone fruit and avocados, which impacted sales growth.
As a result, sales for the first nine months amounted to €2,384.4 million compared to € 2,378.0 million last year (€ 6.4 million (+0.3%)). Foreign exchange rates contributed +0.2%, with M&A and organic growth being respectively recorded at +1.0% and -1.0%.
Long Fresh
Sales of Long Fresh products amounted to €211.9 million in Q3 – up +8.9% compared to the same quarter of the previous financial year.
Sales for the first nine months reached €568.2 million, marking an increase of +7.9% versus last year (€526.3 million). Foreign exchange rates contributed +0.1%, with M&A logged at -0.7% and organic growth recorded at +8.5%.
In the frozen products division of Long Fresh, growth was attributed to an increase of volumes compared to last year, a better price/mix and the effect of price increases. Positive results were perpetuated primarily in the foodservice and industrial customer segments.
Greenyard ranks as the No. 2 supplier of frozen vegetables and fruits in Europe, with nine production sites processing 420,000 tons per annum. The frozen division employs about 2,000 of the company’s workforce of approximately 9,000 persons.
