Press release
, François-Xavier Branthôme
Results are significantly up on 2019 and far exceed expectations. Revenues and margins up, thanks to higher sales volumes and improved industrial efficiency as a result of the increased quantities produced and the major investment plan launched in 2018 coming fully on stream.
According to the comment of the 2020 Annual Accounts presented to the Board of Directors of La Doria S.p.A on March 15, 2021, the domestic and international picture has been heavily impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 health crisis and the resulting severe restrictions introduced by the public authorities across the world.
The La Doria Group’s priority has been the safety of its workforce and its capacity to ensure the provision to the markets at a particularly difficult time, in which household food consumption significantly rose and retail sales of packaged foods saw double-digit increases, partly due to the closure of the HORECA channel imposed in a range of countries.
Against this extraordinary backdrop, the La Doria Group’s results improved significantly compared to 2019 and were far ahead of expectations. Revenues and margins were significantly up, thanks to higher sales volumes and improved industrial efficiency as a result of the increased quantities produced and the major investment plan launched in 2018 coming fully on stream.
Manufacturing activity saw revenues rise significantly (+14.6%), mainly thanks to sustained sales volume increases. The margin was also significantly up thanks to the greater quantities produced and improved industrial efficiencies. This was achieved despite the increase in the procurement costs of certain raw materials and higher tomato-based product processing costs during the 2019 summer campaign.
The trading activities of the subsidiary LDH on the English market reported a significant increase in revenues (+27.3%) and in earnings compared to the previous year, mainly as a result of sustained volume growth, which for certain product categories - such as ready-made sauces - reached over 140%, thanks also to the acquisition of new contracts with strategic clients, in line with the sustained growth objective for this category.
Within the scope of the Investments Plan, the Group also completed the significant investment by LDH in the United Kingdom for the construction of a highly-automated major logistics platform to store and move goods to be distributed on the UK market. This platform, which was launched in the fourth quarter of 2020 and which became fully operational from the initial months of 2021, boosts logistics efficiency and cuts company costs, making it more competitive on an extremely competitive market due to the high level of Major Distributor concentration and the growth of the Discounts.
Consolidated revenues were Euro 848.1 million, up 18.2% on Euro 717.6 million in the previous year, thanks to strong sales volume growth (+16.2%). The best performance was seen in the sauces line, up 23.8%. There were also excellent performances in the other production lines, up 19.8% for the “Red line”. “Other line” (trading) sales also significantly increased (+27.4%).
Group revenues were generated by “Pulses and vegetables” for 27.1%, “Tomato-based products” for 21.2%, “Sauces” for 13.4%, “Fruit” for 8.5% and “Other lines” (trading) for 29.8%.
Exports accounted for 83% of sales, increasing 20.4%, with the domestic market accounting for 17% and an 8.1% increase in revenues.
In view of excellent results in 2020, which far exceeded the 2022 target from the 2020-2022 Plan, the Board approved the new three-year Strategic Plan which targets consolidating La Doria Group’s leadership in the international private labels market and ever-more challenging goals.
Chairman Antonio Ferraioli, in commenting upon the 2020 results and the 2021-2023 Plan, stated “Last year’s results were the fruit of an exceptional boost in volumes sold and the industrial efficiencies achieved - partly thanks to major investments made over the years – in addition to the extraordinary commitment and sense of responsibility of all our personnel which has allowed us to ensure continuity of production for the absolutely essential agro-food supply chain. These results allow us to target even more challenging objectives than the previous Plan. The packaged food market remains favorable for 2021, with demand remaining sustained. The coming years will see us highly-engaged in pursuing our objective to consolidate our international leadership in the private labels packaged vegetable products sector, leveraging, as always, on economies of scale, industrial and procurement efficiencies and the commercial strength of our Group. La Doria Group’s equity and financial solidity allows us to assess new acquisition-led growth opportunities, so as to expand the Group and strengthen our position, while gaining access to new markets and distribution channels”.
Source: La Doria
Further details in the attached document: