Organic foods producer Wessanen, which produces the Kallø and Bjorg brands among others, has posted a 0.8% decline in first half revenue, to €321.1 million.
The Dutch business, which private equity firm PAI Partners recently announced a bid for, said that its performance was largely impacted by the reduction of its private label and distribution businesses, by 11.0%.
Revenue of its own brands increased by 0.5%, however, with the acquisition of the Abbot Kinney's plant-based dairy brand contributed 0.4% to its performance.
Commenting on its half-year performance, Christophe Barnouin, the group's chief executive, said that the business posted "good growth across a number of brands such as Clipper, Allos, Alter Eco, Kallø, Ecocesta and Destination. In Germany and the UK we have seen good momentum building overall."
He added that following a weak first quarter, the Bjorg brand improved in France in Q2, "on the back of strong promotion and brand activation, combined resulting in a low level of growth for the first half", and backed by a new TV campaign.
Brand Performance
In terms of the performance of its other brands, Gayelord Hauser saw a decline, while Alter Eco posted a 'strong' first half due to positive sales of fair trade chocolate.
Bonneterre suffered operational issues in the first half, and saw its sales decline, while Clipper posted double digit growth, despite challenges in the UK.
Kallø achieved 'double digit growth' as well as building stronger support from across the trade, the group said, while Allos delivered a 'healthy' level of growth and Tartex 'performed well in the grocery channel'.
Whole Earth declined in H1 'due to strong competitive pressure', Isola Bio and El Granero both declined in the HFS channel, while Ecocesta 'performed well' in the grocery channel in Spain. Abbot Kinney saw growth at 'double digit levels'.
Core Categories
The group said that in terms of category performance, its 'core categories of Hot Drinks, Breakfast Cereals and Sweet in Between achieved the strongest growth in the first half of 2019.
'In line with strategy and the previous year, the private label and distribution businesses declined at double digit rates in H1 2019,' it added.
Looking ahead to the full year, Wessanen said that it expects 'low to moderate growth' across its branded portfolio, as well as a further reduction of private label and distribution brand sales.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
