Fruit and vegetable supplier Fresh Del Monte has reported that its net income fell to $115.4 million in the first half of its financial year – a drop of more than a third when compared to the same period last year, $178.9 million.
The group's net sales, however, were around 3.4% higher, at $2.18 billion, for the half-year period.
External Challenges
The company cited 'external challenges, such as oversupply of bananas in Asia and the Middle East markets, lower sales volume of canned pineapple, and lower pineapple concentrate selling prices' as a reason for its profit impact, however, chairman and chief executive Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh said that the company reported "strong sales growth during the second quarter".
"Our broad range of products and businesses, and geographic reach helped us mitigate these challenges while continuing to grow our business," Abu-Ghazaleh said.
"We strongly believe our future has never been brighter. Our recently announced joint ventures with Del Monte Pacific Limited are expected to provide us with tremendous potential to rapidly expand our line-up of healthy, convenient, fresh and ready-to-eat products."
Net sales for the second quarter of 2017 were $1.15 billion, compared with $1.09 billion in the second quarter of 2016.
Banana Sales
Fresh Del Monte sold $499.5 million worth of bananas in the second quarter of the year, up from $497.4 million in the same quarter last year. In terms of gold-pineapple sales, net sales increased 9%, to $134.8 million, while avocado sales were up 48%, to $85.4 million.
Looking forward, Abu-Ghazaleh said, "[The company remains] confident in our ability to tap future opportunities to drive profitability and shareholder value over the long term."
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Larissa Zimmer. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
