Swiss-Irish bakery giant Aryzta has posted a revenue drop of 6.3% to €1.787 billion with an organic decline of 2.2% in the six months to 31 January 2018.
In its half year results, the company posted a pre-tax loss of €231.8 million, up 66% from €139.7 million in losses it suffered during the same time last year.
The recent losses were heavily affected by the sale of Aryzta's troubled Cloverhill business, which incurred around €201 million in restructuring costs.
Strategy Issues
Problems surrounding undocumented workers and failed strategy at the Illinois-based Cloverhill bakery caused a $1 billion net loss in 2017.
The business was a significant supplier to a host of popular brands, but lost out on revenue after it started delivering its own products to retailers in direct competition with its own buyers.
Aryzta’s North America revenues (excluding Cloverhill) decreased by 7.4% to €724.2 million, an organic decline of 0.4%.
International Positives
Meanwhile its Europe and Rest of World revenues increased by 0.7% to €868.3 million (1.7% organic growth) and 2.2% to €131.9 million (9.1% organic growth), respectively.
EBITDA declined by 29.6% to €161.3 million, while underlying net profit decreased 53.5% to €50.9m and underlying fully diluted EPS decreased 53.7% to 57.1 cent.
“We are actively implementing a range of measures to improve our EBITDA. We are in a multi-year turnaround programme,” said Aryzta AG CEO Kevin Toland.
“Under our new leadership team, we are reshaping the Group’s focus on our core B2B frozen bakery customers, improving operational efficiencies and deleveraging the balance sheet.”
© 2018 - Checkout Magazine by Kevin Duggan
