Processed vegetables firm Bonduelle has reported a 1.6% increase in like-for-like sales its 2020/21 financial year, however like-for-like sales in its Europe business were down.
The group reported sales of €2.78 billion for the year to 30 June, which was a 2.7% decline on a reported basis, due to unfavourable currency fluctuations.
Operating profit was down 7.6% to €100.4 million.
Further Business Growth
"The Bonduelle Group recorded another financial year of business growth at constant exchange rates and, despite the sanitary context, retained its profitability," said Guillaume Debrosse, chief executive.
"In a consumer environment far different from the one in which the annual targets were set, we demonstrated our resilience thanks to a portfolio of diversified business activities in terms of technologies, distribution channels and geographical areas."
In its Europe Zone business, which represents 45.8% of total turnover, like-for-like sales dropped by 1.9%, with reported sales down 2.1%.
Its Non-Europe Zone arm, meanwhile, saw sales up 4.6% on a like-for-like basis, and down 3.1% on a reported basis, largely driven by a solid performance in North America, as well as positive sales in Russian and Eastern Europe.
Bonduelle said that operating profit was impacted by the long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as additional logistics costs arising from the period. This was offset, however, by a 'solid performance' in the long-life operating segment in Europe, Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as in North America.
Partnership Agreements
During the period, the group also strengthened its partnership with vegetable producers in France, with the groups OPLvert, OPLINORD and Euralis Coop, and announced its commitment to achieve B Corp certification by 2025, among other initiatives.
In the coming financial year, it expects to report a 3% increase in turnover, while it also recently instigated a strategic review of its Bonduelle Americas Long Life business unit.
'This review, and the resulting scenarios, should enable Bonduelle Americas Long Life's activities to pursue their development in a constantly consolidating North American market and to finance the investments necessary to increase its profitability,' the company said.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
