Croatia-based food producer and distributor Atlantic Grupa has reported 34.4% annual growth in net profit, amounting to HRK 319.3million (€43million) for the first nine months of 2018.
Normalised EBITDA was up 14.3% year-on-year to HRK 524.1 million (€70.6 million), up from HRK 440.7 million (€59.3 million) for the same period last year.
Total revenue was HRK 3.9 billion (€524.8 million), down 0.5% year-on-year.
Growth Drivers
Sales were mainly driven by savoury spread Argeta, which grew by 10.2%, as well as the group's beverages (+7.0%) and coffee (+4.3%) divisions.
Coffee also emerged as the biggest individual category across segments, with a share of 21.0% and sales of HRK 816.7 million (€109.9 million).
The most significant growth was recorded in Croatia, with 9.6% growth, followed by Serbia (+5.6%), Slovenia (+5.5%) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (+4.0%).
In terms of product categories, own brand products accounted for 68.9% sales, ahead of principal brands (23.0%), and pharmacy chain Farmacia (7.9%).
Product Performance
Present in 28 European countries, Argeta established itself as the leading meat spread in the continent.
The redesigned Cockta soft drink achieved extraordinary sales results with a 46% growth in the HoReCa segment.
Following many years of successful distribution in Croatia and Slovenia, the company has agreed to distribute HIPP’s products in the Macedonian market in 2019.
According to the settlement agreement with Agrokor Group creditors, if Konzum achieves its four-year planned EBITDA goals, Atlantic Grupa will collect all the remaining receivables from Agrokor Group members, amounting to about HRK 60 million (€8 million).
© 2018 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.