Vion posts another loss, but first half of 2025 plus

Compared to the previous financial year, Vion's result has improved slightly. The net loss decreased from €89,7 million in 2023 to €81,3 million in 2024. Klimp is not alarmed by the red figures, because the turning point has now been reached: in the first half of 2025, Vion wrote black figures. "Last financial year was the last year of transformation," says Klimp. "In recent years, we have carried out a very large program to tackle all locations that were not profitable." A major reorganization took place to achieve this result. The company has achieved a lot of efficiency gains in production. The company has also significantly reduced its overhead costs.

Focus on animal welfare and sustainability
In addition to the profit, sales also fell by 3,2%, from 1.043 million kilos to 1.010 million kilos. As a result, sales from continuing operations also fell by 5,9% from €3,32 billion to €3,13 billion. Remarkably enough, according to Klimp, this decline does not necessarily work to Vion's disadvantage. In recent years, Vion has been working on a new strategy. Growth is not central to this, as the company's three largest markets are shrinking markets. The company sees opportunities in the increasingly strict European animal welfare and sustainability legislation and has decided to focus on this.

Klimp is not immediately concerned about the challenging price developments of recent years. Due to the low supply on the pig market, prices are relatively higher than average meat prices. Meanwhile, the high prices of chicken and beef are not really resulting in a stronger demand for pork. As a result, margins have come under pressure. Although the situation is far from ideal, it is not yet causing any problems for Vion. "Due to the recent reorganization, the pig division is writing black figures despite the difficult meat market." In the meantime, the company is able to pass on the high beef price well.

In short, the difficult meat markets are not yet a cause for concern. What Klimp does see as a risk is that animal welfare and sustainability seem to be somewhat snowed under on the European market due to the high prices. "A lot will be coming our way in terms of legislation in the coming years. If the sector does not continue to work on this, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot in the long term."

Vion's local focus was partly due to African swine fever (ASF) in Germany, which caused exports outside Europe to cease. This situation almost immediately led to the sale of Vion's North German locations. Production there was mainly for the world market. Vion came to the conclusion that it was not realistic to turn the results around, and decided to divest parts. "This taught us the lesson that the European market is the most important to us," concludes Klimp.

Sale of German slaughterhouses 'not urgent'
Due to the new focus, the company later decided to withdraw from the rest of Germany and focus on the Benelux. It recently suffered a setback. The German cartel watchdog recently decided to block the takeover of three slaughterhouses by Tönnies. Although this is a major setback, the deal is not permanently off the table. Vion is studying the ruling in detail and all scenarios are still on the table.

According to Klimp, the decision has no direct impact on the daily business. "The situation is fundamentally different than on the North German market. The sale of these parts of the company is part of a long-term strategic decision. However, the sale is not urgent, as the divisions concerned are profitable."

Food service as a growth market
Although growth is no longer a goal in itself, Vion does expect to grow in foodservice. In 2024, the company saw its turnover in this segment increase by 4,5%. However, the volume remains relatively limited overall. Sales increased from 69 million kilos in 2023 to 72 million kilos. As far as Klimp is concerned, foodservice is still a growth market for the time being.

By far the most meat in the food service still comes from South America. According to Klimp, this is not sustainable, given the growing focus on sustainability and animal welfare. "If you ask in a restaurant where the meat comes from, nine times out of ten it is not from the Netherlands, but for example from Uruguay or Brazil. The quality standards such as sustainability and welfare requirements there are really substantially lower. For example, a lot of antibiotics are still used preventively. That is why I no longer order it, or even leave the restaurant. I think there is still a lot of profit to be made in that area."

Vion wants to distinguish itself even more in the coming period and in the meantime keep it attractive for the farmer to produce. "The current requirements in the field of sustainability and animal welfare for farmers for production will significantly increase the costs of meat. It is therefore important that we develop the markets for this, especially since meat must remain affordable for the consumer at the same time."