News Annual figures
Agrifirm deeper in the red and cancels additional payment
Agrifirm suffered a loss of €2024 million in 23,6, partly as a result of a substantial write-down on foreign activities. As a result, there is no additional payment for the cooperative's farmer members this time. Sales figures also took a hit again. Despite the challenging market conditions, Agrifirm is showing itself to be combative and wants to regain market share.
The net loss means red figures for Agrifirm for the second year in a row. No less than €27 million had to be written off on foreign business units. The foreign joint ventures also resulted in a loss of €200.000. The normalised operating result, which does not include one-off write-offs, improved by €10,7 million to €1,7 million negative. The cooperative speaks of a disappointing result, which is why it was decided not to make a subsequent payment.
Sales down
Turnover also declined significantly, falling by 15,9% to over €2 billion. This is partly due to lower raw material prices, which also require less working capital. As a result, solvency improved slightly to 55%, which is very solid. In addition, turnover fell due to livestock farmers ceasing operations and a loss of market share. This is clearly reflected in the sales figures: compound feed sales fell by a whopping 8% to 2,86 million tonnes. Looking back further, sales have lost a million tonnes since 2020. Because sales of premixes and co-products also fell last year, total feed sales fell by 10% to 3,89 million tonnes.
The vegetable branch also saw sales decline. Fertilizer sales fell by 15% to 314.000 tons. Sales of grains, potatoes, onions and carrots fell by the same order of magnitude to 192.000 tons. Turnover in crop protection did increase, by 5% to €163 million tons. Welkoop stores also saw a slight increase in turnover to €299 million.
More cost-conscious
Agrifirm announced a cost saving a year ago and states that this will result in a structural reduction in costs in 2024. More than 1.000 FTEs have disappeared from the payroll and, according to the company, efficiency in the factories has also improved. As a result, Agrifirm, despite two years of red figures, is looking to the future with confidence. The company will present a new strategy in June, but it is already announcing that it is sailing closer to the wind. This should lead to a recovery of the lost market share.
Read here the interview with the newly appointed CEO Piet Hilarides about the annual figures and his plans for the company.
Wouter Job
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