Greenyard Foods, the Belgium-headquartered producer of vegetables, fruits, soups, sauces, ready-to-use culinary preparations, substrates and other products, has reported that sales for the first half of fiscal 2015 ending on September 30 were up 1.5% to EUR 1,975.6 million (approximately $2.16 billion).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), however, fell by 14.9% to EUR 72.5 million. No net profit was realized, compared to a profit of EUR 14.3 million during the same period in 2014.
While the company’s fresh segment and “other” business activity results were broadly in line with last year’s performance, the overall decrease was mainly attributed to its prepared foods division. In fact, earnings from both the company’s fresh and prepared foods divisions fell, with the former posting a 7.4% downturn to EUR 40.8 million and the latter registering a 31.7% slump to EUR 26.7 million
CEO Marleen Vaesen, while pleased that the prepared unit (Pinguin and Noliko) had “an exceptionally good operational result,” reported that challenging market conditions negatively impacted the bottom line. The prepared division’s decrease in REBITA was EUR 10.4 million compared to what was described as “an exceptionally good result” in the first half of the previous year. The unit will, however, recover some €2.8 million from the deferred recognition of results in the second half of the accounting year.
Non-recurring charges amount to EUR 3.9 million and predominantly relate to transaction costs associated with the merger of Greenyard Foods, UNIVEG and Peatinvest earlier this year.
About the Merged Companies
Greenyard Foods is active predominantly in the processing and commercialization of vegetables, fruits and ready-to-eat food, both deep-frozen (Pinguin) and canned (Noliko). It has 2,200 employees and 13 production sites in five countries (Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Poland and Hungary) and subsidiaries and sales offices on five continents. Products are exported to customers in more than 80 countries.
Univeg, headquartered in Sint-Katelijn-Waver, Belgium, is a worldwide supplier of fresh produce, active in the fields of fruits and vegetables, flowers and plants, convenience products, transport and logistics. It currently employs 4,000 people (after carve-out of The Fruit Farm Group) in 27 countries, on five continents.
Peatinvest and its subsidiaries have been involved in the horticultural sector for 30 years and employ 400 staff. Headquartered in Gent, the Group has nine production sites in four countries and supplies growers throughout the world with a wide range of substrates for growing plants, fruit and vegetables marketed under the Peltracom brand for the professional market and Agrofino for the hobbyists.
