French cheesemaker Savencia’s H1 2016 figures show a fall in sales of four per cent, which the company says resulted from a “serious situation in France compensated by a favorable international performance.”
Supermarket price wars and “currency volatility” – specifically of South American currencies against the euro – make foreseeing the company’s performance for the final six months of the calendar year difficult, a Savenica press release said.
“Organic growth for Cheese Products remained penalized by negative pricing but was nevertheless slightly positive (+0.2 per cent) due to volume growth for branded products. The organic contraction of -0.9% for Other Dairy Products was the result of deflation in world prices.
“The virtual stability of current operating profit, at €86.1 million compared with €85.8 million for the first half of 2015, reflected a significant deterioration of operations in France offset by strong international progression resulting in an overall improvement of current operating margin to 4.1 per cent combining 6.5 per cent for Cheese Products and 2.1 per cent for Other Dairy Products.”
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
