Strong performance continues
Sales €134.0 million up 20%
EBITDA €7.3 million up 108%
Highlights
Net Sales €134.0 million up 20%
Sales growth on organic basis up 5%
EBITDA €7.3 million up 108%
Profit after tax €0.8 million compared to loss of €1.8 million previous year
Cash generated from operations € 7.0 million
Results impacted by commodity price increases
Integration of Adrimex and Le Traiteur Grec on track and in line with
expectations
Acquisitions under active review
Xavier Govare, CEO:
“Our new financial year 2007/08 has started very well even though we are facing
exceptional commodity price increases, along with other food producers.
Despite the difficult market environment, our results for the quarter are
satisfactory with our Group sales increasing by 20% to €134.0 million for the
first quarter compared to the same period last year, underpinned by organic
growth of 5%.
It is encouraging to see that this good sales performance has been achieved
with a balanced contribution from each of our four pillars with sales, on a
pro-forma basis, increasing in Smoked Salmon and Fish by 5%, Blinis and
Spreadables by 7% and Prawns and Shellfish by 4%, with Foie Gras and Duck
broadly contributing the same level of sales as last year over a summer period
which is traditionally a very quiet period for this pillar.
The Group's EBITDA for the period was €7.3 million, an impressive increase of
108% compared to the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, the
EBITDA growth was strong having increased 83%.
These good results have been obtained despite two significant adverse factors
that impacted Alfesca's performance during the first quarter. First, the poor
summer in Europe negatively impacted the sales of our summer range of products,
such as our prawn and duck based barbecue lines as well as our spreadables
range of products. Second, the unprecedented increases in commodity prices,
which started to rise during spring 2007, significantly impacted the variable
costs of our duck related products, as well as our blini and spreadables line
of products.
Given the fundamental nature of the market changes, we expect that the
challenging market conditions and higher raw material prices will continue for
the rest of the current financial year and beyond. In response, we have
already reacted to the raw material price increases by working with our clients
to obtain the necessary price increases in order to recover these additional
costs.
Alfesca's strategy is delivering results and is proving to be both effective
and relevant. We are encouraged with the progress being made with the
integration of the newly acquired companies, which are starting to deliver the
first level of synergies expected from them.
Alfesca's prospects are good given the positive market trends and strong market
positioning of its businesses. It will continue to realise its potential by
taking advantage of favourable consumer trends and by focusing on innovation
and industrial efficiency.”
