The French prepared food and salad specialist said its performance during the current challenging environment demonstrated the resilience of its business
French prepared food and salad group Bonduelle has announced revenue of €2.89bn for FY 2021-2022, a like-for-like increase of 1.8 per cent.
Overall growth was driven by the company’s canned and frozen food activities, although profitability was lower than anticipated.
Revenue growth was strengthened by foreign exchange rates, but the group’s fresh ready-to-eat business saw a dip in performance in North America.
The decline in Bonduelle’s Fresh Americas business unit was reportedly due to “significant price increases aimed at preserving margins in a particularly inflationary environment, a less dynamic market, and the cessation of sales of non-contributing ranges to certain clients, which was not offset by new clients acquisitions”.
Fourth quarter growth at the group stood at 4.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis, driven by the dynamism of the food service business in Europe and North America, which approached pre-Covid levels.
In Europe, Bonduelle’s food service business grew by over 30 per cent, outstripping the market’s recovery rate.
“In a context once again disrupted by the sanitary crisis, a difficult climate, coupled with geopolitical tensions and their consequences, the group once again demonstrated the resilience of its business,” Bonduelle stated.
