Italy’s Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group (MZBG) closed the first half of its financial year with a net profit of €7.1 million, up 62.3% when compared to the same period in 2017, according to a press release.
Revenues of the group, whose brands include Segafredo coffee, amounted to €434 million, down 8.7% at current exchange rates and 3% at constant exchange rates.
In 2017, the beverage group closed the first nine months of the year with a 21.9% year-on-year drop in profit.
Coffee Sale Drops
The revenue drop was due to a decrease in the price and volume of sale of roasted coffee.
The sales volume of roasted coffee fell by 1.9% to 62,100 tonnes.
The fall in average purchase price of green coffee is believed to the reason behind the phenomena.
Net Financial Debt Stable
EBITDA amounted to €32.1 million (with an incidence of 7.4% on sales), growing by 10.2%, while EBIT reached €14.1 million (+30.2%).
The net financial debt remained stable at €190.7 million when compared to data from 31 December 2017.
The trend was partially offset by positive performance in other geographical areas comprising of Southern Europe (+3.2%), Northern Europe (+1.9%), and the Asia-Pacific.
Cafés and MZBG food service channel recorded a positive performance in all markets.
Revenues from the food service channel, which constituted 23.8% of the total, amounted to €103.3 million (+0.7% LFL).
Growth Expected To Continue
On the basis of the results achieved in first half of its financial year, and considering the positive outlook for the rest of the year, the beverage giant expects a solid growth in profitability for the full year, substantially stable revenues, a 5-8% increase in adjusted EBITDA, and a reduction in net financial debt below the €180 million threshold.
MZBG is a leading company in the production, processing and distribution of roasted coffee and other selected products, that are distributed in around 110 countries.
It operates 18 plants in Europe, Asia and America and runs an international network of approximately 400 coffee shops in 50 countries. Moreover, MZBG produces and sells coffee machines and its product range includes tea, cocoa, chocolate and spices.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
