Bakery giant Aryzta has said that it expects a 'bumpy recovery' in the coming months, as it seeks to keep costs under control and adjust its business to 'reflect changes in the economic environment'.
The group was commenting following a marginal improvement in its revenue performance in June, which was 23% down on the same month the previous year.
Rapid Action
This compares to a 36% year-on-year monthly decline in May, and a 49% decline in April.
The group said that from mid-March onwards, it took 'decisive and rapid action' to protect and maximise liquidity, including reducing capacity, furloughing personnel, availing of government relief initiatives, pausing capital expenditure and eliminating discretionary costs where possible.
Performance By Region
In Europe, it said that it is seeing an 'improving weekly revenue trend', which is currently around 27% below the previous year, as countries emerge from lockdown.
Quick-service restaurants and bakeries are also getting back on track, it said, while foodservice and convenience channels 'continue to be negatively affected'.
In North America, meanwhile, revenue evolution is tracking at 18% below last year, again driven by QSR and retail, while in Rest of World, revenue evolution is around 20% lower.
The group said that is has begun to 'adjust production upward' using adapted shift patterns, with just one bakery still offline in Europe, and 80% of production lines currently operational.
In the US, too, just one bakery remains offline, with the group saying that 90% of its lines are currently operational.
Continuously Monitoring
' We are continuously monitoring the situation with our key stakeholders and are actively assessing the consequences of government responses to COVID-19 within the different channels and thus effectively managing our supply chain,' the group said.
'We will concentrate specifically on the safety of our employees, particularly where and when we transition employees back into the business. Our focus remains on having the highest quality and product safety standards across all bakeries in full compliance with reinforced COVID-19 protocols.'
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