Farmers' cooperative Arla Foods, one of the world's biggest dairy firms, said that profits for 2019 have stagnated, despite the launch of new products to meet consumer demand in Europe for organic, lactose-free and flexitar products.
Arla, owned by some 10,000 farmers in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium, said operating profit was €406 million in 2019, compared to €404 million in the previous year.
'Strengthened Trust'
“Arla’s global brands continue to be at the heart of our business and in 2019 we have clearly strengthened consumer trust in our brands," commented the CFO of Arla Foods, Natalie Knight.
"We delivered a range of popular dairy products that capitalised on increasing consumer demand for healthy and sustainable food choices, which helped us exceed our expectations for branded growth in 2019."
The company, which competes with companies like Danone and Nestlé in the dairy industry, said it expected revenue this year of between €10.4 billion and €10.8 billion, compared to €10.5 billion in 2019.
“In 2019, we were able to grow and improve our quality of business while continuing to deliver efficiencies beyond our initial expectations,"added chief executive Peder Tuborgh. "This clearly shows that our employees are transforming the way they work, spend and invest in our business."
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
