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Dairy trader Hoogwegt is again much more profitable
Dairy and protein trader Hoogwegt has seen its turnover fall by more than 2023% in 2024-8, but at the same time it saw its profits rise sharply. The money is still being made with classic dairy products such as butter and cream.
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This was reported by CEO Sander Hulsebos and CFO Herco Boer in the filed annual report for the broken financial year (which ended in September last year) of Hoogwegt Group.
The company does not make any statements about traded production tonnages, but the almost €285 million lower turnover (-8,2%) appears to be partly due to the slightly lower average dairy prices during the past financial year.
More than a third more profit
In total, turnover amounted to almost €3,2 billion, compared to almost €3,5 billion in the previous financial year. However, this did not have a negative effect on the result. Profit before tax rose from €23,4 million to €36,6 million, profit after tax rose from over €15 million to €20,5 million, which represents an increase of 36%. Solvency rose from 29,2% to 31%, but this was mainly a result of the smaller balance sheet. The net profit margin was 1,62%, a lot better than the 0,43% of a fiscal year earlier.
The decline in turnover at the Hoogwegt Group occurred in two of the three operational regions; strongest in the Asia Pacific region (-10,11%, or -€54,4 million), but also clearly felt in Europe and the Middle East/Africa (EMEA), the largest operating area. There, turnover fell by 9%, or €190 million. In the Americas, turnover rose fractionally.
Fava Factory
In addition to its main activities, the group has two participations/joint ventures; dairy company Lone Star in Texas and Meelunie GPI in Hedensted, Denmark. Hoogwegt does not report on the individual results, but together they still cost money in the past financial year. That is not so strange, because MeelunieGPI is still in the start-up phase. The factory must extract high-quality protein from fava beans (broad beans) and thus respond to the growing demand for vegetable proteins.
Protein House
Partly because of the latter, Hoogwegt Group also wants to profile itself more and more as a 'protein house' and less as a dairy trading house, even though it also does a lot of business in vegetable starch and butter and cream seem to do better in the dairy market in terms of margins than many dairy proteins.