Switzerland’s Bell Food Group has reported 3.2% growth in adjusted sales revenue, to CHF 4.2 billion (€4 billion), in its financial year 2021.
Adjusted EBIT increased by 2.5%, to CHF 164.5 million (€155.76 million), and annual profit by 10.0%, to CHF 129.5 million (€122.6 million).
The Swiss food company attributed this performance, which it says is ’its best ever result', to its strong core business in meat and convenience products in the Swiss retail market.
In addition, the diversification of product categories and sales channels proved to be of strategic advantage for the company.
Divisional Performance
Bell Switzerland expanded its market leadership in the seafood category, which grew by more than 10% during the financial year.
Both poultry and seafood have enjoyed solid growth for many years and have made a sizeable contribution to the profitability of the division, the company noted.
Bell International reported overall gains, in particular, for organic poultry, which saw growth of over 15%.
Bell Convenience witnessed strongest growth in vegetarian products and fresh pasta.
Its Green Mountain brand, which offers plant-based meat alternatives, reported growth of 25%.
Outlook
The company expects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic to subside in 2022.
However, it added that markets will remain volatile and unpredictable for the foreseeable future
CEO Lorenz Wyss commented, “It is possible that certain changes triggered by the pandemic will remain and will have a sustained impact on our business performance.”
The company expects Bell Convenience to resume its role as growth driver as the effects of the pandemic start to normalise.
Bell Switzerland will be unable to sustain the strong performance of the past two years, in particular, if shopping tourism, which returned in part in the reporting year, should continue, the company noted.
