Belgian fruit and vegetable processor Greenyard says it is on track to meet its annual targets. The decision to stop selling a number of seasonal products did, however, weigh on sales in the third quarter of the company’s broken financial year.
Sustainability and transparency
Greenyard recorded sales of 3.21 billion euros in the first nine months of its 2021-2022 financial year, an increase on an organic basis of 1.2 %. The Fresh division grew by 0.9 % and reached 2.67 billion euros, while Long Fresh increased by 2.7 %.
However, between October and December, growth came to a complete standstill, with a turnover of 1.06 billion euros. Greenyard attributes this mainly to the decision to stop the commercialisation of certain seasonal categories in the Fresh segment. “The company is determined to continuously improve transparency in the supply chain to meet its strict sustainability and social responsibility criteria, which was not possible for these categories”, the company explained in a press release.
If it had not been for the discontinuation, growth in the third quarter would have been 1.5 %, Greenyard says. However, the company is still on track to meet its annual forecast and restates its ambition to achieve sales of five billion euros by the 2024-2025 financial year. To cope with rising costs, the group has raised its prices, and its effects should become tangible in the coming quarters. Moreover, Greenyard says, in the light of inflation, there is a “growing understanding of the need for increased prices.”
