Belgian fresh produce firm Greenyard has said that is seeking to become a 'plant-based powerhouse', as it targets further growth through a wider product portfolio of convenient, plant-based products, in combination with digital services.
The announcement comes on the back of positive first-half results, which indicated continued profitable growth at the firm.
The company plans to create headroom for additional investments in the plant-based portfolio and potential mergers and acquisitions in the coming years.
Greenyard will continue to step-up digitalisation across the group, which will enable it to respond to current and future consumer needs and directly contribute to a more sustainable food value chain, it said.
Greenyard co-CEO, Hein Deprez, said, “More and more, people recognise the power and the importance of a healthy, plant-based diet. For our health and for the planet. Close-to-crop food offerings are the cornerstone of our collective future. With Greenyard, we have delivered this from the start, it is in our DNA.
“We are plant-based, by nature. It gives us a head-start and a competitive advantage. Now, as a next step, we will push through in what is clearly the right direction. We will step-up our investments in innovation and technology, leveraging the data in the value chain to provide even better products and services to our customers and consumers.”
Strategy 2030
The company has outlined its vision on the future of food as part of its Strategy 2030 initiative, which is based on a three-staged approach: improve, increase, imagine.
The three levels of the strategy, which partially run in parallel, will reinforce each other over time and fuel the step-up throughout the roll-out of the plan, Greenyard added.
Marc Zwaaneveld, co-CEO, described Strategy 2030 as the next big step and added, “We are at the heart of change and will accelerate our activities in these products, supported by ongoing digitalisation and strong sustainability ambitions.
“We strongly believe these will be the drivers for a higher growth rate in sales and profitability, complemented by targeted M&A or cooperation – creating additional upsides to our plans.”
Three-Stage Plan
In the first stage, Greenyard will focus on further deepening its unique integrated relationships with existing and new customers. At the same time, it will continue to increasingly develop its grower relationships, applying the same way of working.
The second stage will see the company step up its convenience product offering, leveraging the window of opportunity for low processed healthy convenience products, tapping into the consumer demand.
The company has set a target to increase net sales by around €650 million to €5 billion by 2025, and grow the adjusted EBITDA by around €35-45 million to € 200-210 million.
The third stage will involve building on the first two levels and realising these ambitions. It will also seek to further invest in other plant-based product development to expand its current offering.
Read More: Greenyard Launches Sustainability Roadmap 2025
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Dayeeta Das. For more Fresh Produce news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
