Greenyard has announced its results for the first half of the 2020/21 financial year, revealing what it has described as a 'clear improvement in profitability' for the six-month period.
Group sales increased 10.3 per cent year-on-year, up to €2.17bn from €1.97bn, of which 11.1 per cent was organic growth.
Sales were boosted by 11.1 per cent growth in the company's fresh segment, up to €1.79bn, mainly the result of better vegetable sales combined with continued strengthening and growth of integrated customer relationships.
Greenyard noted that fresh sales were, to a lesser extent, also driven by higher volumes arising from the Covid-19 quarantine measures starting in mid-March 2020, which caused a shift from out-of-home to at-home consumption in the first quarter of the financial year.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first half climbed 18.9 per cent, hitting €56.6m, growing 31.5 per cent in the fresh segment to €32.4m.
In terms of net result, Greenyard returned to a positive of €1.1m, compared with a loss of €44m in the sme period of 2019/20.
“Greenyard is demonstrating that its strategy of long-term, sustainable and stable relationships in the value chain of both segments, works,' said co-chief executive Hein Deprez. 'This strategy ensures balance and certainty across the entire value chain.
'It reinforces the trust placed in growing together with the customer, even in uncertain times,' he outlined. 'For growers too, we will accelerate our investment, with the same level of intensity and integration, in professional, innovative and integrative collaborations, ultimately leading to a further shortening of the supply chain. At group level, we are therefore taking the next steps in group sourcing.”
“Our objective to deepen our close collaboration in the value chain with customers and growers demonstrates our clear determination to add value to improve the entire supply chain in terms of availability, quality and cost,' noted Marc Zwaaneveld, co-CEO. 'It forces us to adapt our organisation every day, making it better, more efficient and more sustainable, growing with every step. It is already leading to a significant shift towards more stable and higher volumes and margins, partly through more added value services, but also through structural process transformation, for example in sourcing and transport.
'Above all, we are accelerating our sustainability ambitions, with four concrete commitments,' he added. 'By striving for sustainable and continuous improvements in an integrated value chain, we lay the foundation for strong and stable growth over the next years.”
