A leading industry analyst has said that the '"stand-out performance" of the Dole Food Company business helped boost Total Produce's full-year performance.
Roland French of Davy was commenting following the publication of Total Produce's full-year results, which saw the fruit firm's total revenue rise 22.4% to €6.2 billion.
'Key Takeaway'
"The key takeaway from the 2019 results is the stand-out performance from Dole and the near-30% year-on-year (yoy) increase in Dole EBITDA," French commented in a briefing note.
"The performance exceeds our expectations and underpins strong yoy growth in adjusted EPS – which was 5% ahead of our forecasts and surpassed the upper-end of guidance. With a strong recovery in its packaged salads business, Dole’s EBITDA has now surpassed its 2017 high water mark.
Adjusted EBITDA at Total Produce rose 52.1% last year, to €202.8 million, with the company citing the 'incremental benefit' of the Dole acquisition as a core driver of this performance.
“We are pleased that the group has delivered a strong performance in 2019 with a 41.4% increase in adjusted fully diluted earnings per share," commented Carl McCann, Total Produce chairman.
Total Produce acquired 45% of Dole in July 2018, for $300 million (€269.4 million).
Regional Performance
In its Europe-Eurozone division, which includes operations in France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, revenue fell by 4.6%, with a 20.1% decrease in adjusted EBITDA, due to what the company said were 'challenging' conditions.
Its Europe-Non-Eurozone division, meanwhile, saw a marginal revenue decrease of 0.6% in the period, due to adverse foreign currency translations and the cessation of a distribution business in H2 2018.
Its International operations, which include North America, South America and India, saw a 8.2% increase in revenue, with adjusted EBITA increasing 18.0%, boosted by currency effects.
Looking ahead to the coming year, the group said that trading in early 2020 has been satisfactory and it is 'targeting continued growth', while it added that while it is monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak, it is only expecting 'material' disruption.
"The outlook calls for 'continued growth', while we see c.2-3% upside to our FY 2020 EPS forecast," Davy's French added.
© 2020 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.
