Italian coffee producer and distributor Illycaffè closed 2016 with a 5.3% growth in turnover, to €460.4 million.
Although revenue growth was below 2015 levels (+12%), the company saw an improvement in its volumes, according to president Andrea Illy, reports local daily Il Sole 24 Ore.
Illy pointed out that sales in international markets rose 64% (from 63%), thanks in part to an excellent performance in the US. Contributing to this positive performance was a contract with United Airlines, which offers Illycaffe coffee to over 100 million passengers.
Net profit was €16.6 million, slightly up on the €16 million a year earlier.
Last year, coffee sales in Italy in large retailers dropped, according to IRI, by 1% in volume and by 0.7% in value to €1.1 billion. There was a downturn in all segments (Moka -1.4%, decaffeinated -5.5%), while capsules jumped 17.5% to €231 million.
In the B2C channel, Illycaffè has around 236 single-brand stores, including 163 illy caffès (15 directly managed) and 73 illy shops (8).
Following the results, chief executive Massimiliano Pogliani told the Ansa news agency that two-thirds of the company's turnover, around €500 million a year, is achieved on foreign markets. Every day, seven million cups of Illycaffè coffee are sold in the world, with Italy remaining the main market, followed by the US, Europe and the Middle East.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
