Granarolo meets 2020 financial targets

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The board of directors has proposed the distribution of a dividend of €12.5m ($14.9m). Pic: Granarolo

Italian dairy company Granarolo S.p.A. said despite the challenging and complex nature of 2020, the company met its profitability targets.

Consolidated revenue stood at €1.28bn ($1.43bn), a decrease of 3% from the previous year. The change in revenue on a like-for-like basis (adjusted for exchange rates) of -3.1% was due primarily to the effect of reduced sales in the normal trade and foodservice channels, both within Italy and in the other countries where the group has operations.

As a result of the pandemic the company said a significant reduction of volumes and earnings was recorded in the normal trade and foodservice channels, which was not fully offset by the increase recorded in the large-scale retail channel.

The social changes imposed by the “new normal” led to reduced consumption outside the home – the channels lost 40.7%, the Granarolo Group 25-30% on average, with lows of -80% from March to May – in favor of home consumption through a shopping mix that first and foremost favoured commodity products with longer shelf lives (ESL milk and long-life UHT milk) and ingredients (eggs, cheese, soft cheese etc.).

The group’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at €78.5m ($93.4m), or 6.1% of revenue, in line with company forecasts and an improvement of 8% on 2019.

Group sales have traditionally been concentrated in Italy (66.8% of revenue); the percentage of sales derived from Europe saw a 1% increase to 28.2%, while sales in markets outside Europe fell by 10.9% to 4.9%.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) stood at €28m ($33.3m), while net profit for the financial year was €15.8m ($18.8m).

The board of directors proposed the distribution of a dividend of €12.5m ($14.9m).