Finnish food group Raisio plc has released its interim report for the first quarter of 2018, where it saw net sales of €67.8 million.
The Benecol maker's comparable EBIT was €7.4 million, accounting for 10.9% of net sales.
Clear Focus
Pekka Kuusniemi, CEO and president of Raisio, commented, "With the divestment of our confectionery and cattle feed businesses, Raisio is at the beginning of the new. The company has a clear focus: responsibly produced healthy food. In early 2018, we have implemented a significant reorganisation of operations.
"The main change was the integration of all Raisio’s food brands and businesses into the Healthy Food Division. We have already taken the first steps following the change in the organisational structure and started the resource allocation to support the profitable growth of the Healthy Food Division.”
The Healthy Food Division’s net sales amounted to €48.1 million, and comparable EBIT was €8.3 million, accounting for 17.2% of net sales.
Net sales for the Raisioagro Division were €19.7 million and comparable EBIT was €0.1 million.
Satisfactory Results
Kuusniemi said of the results, "Raisio’s net sales and EBIT for January-March 2018 were at satisfactory levels. Moderate sales growth for Benecol and Elovena products continued in Finland. Sales and business profitability weakened in Poland, Russia, Ireland and Belgium, mainly due to challenges in sales volumes.
“Net sales and sales volume for the UK operations were also slightly down from the comparison period. Raisio has identified the main problems and initiated corrective measures. We have set an ambitious but realistic time-frame for these measures.”
Raisio expects the net sales of the group’s continuing operations to be approximately at the 2017 level. The company estimates that the comparable EBIT for the Group’s continuing operations is over 10% of net sales.
Raisio recently announced its 2017 net sales of €306.8 million, which is an 8.8% decrease on the previous year.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O'Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
