Bakery firm Aryzta has posted group organic revenue growth of 1.3% in the third quarter of its financial year, which the company says reflects the ‘ongoing stabilisation’ of the business at group level.
The group reported overall revenue of €847.9 million for the quarter, a 4.5% rise, however this was boosted by a positive currency movement of 3.4%.
Its Europe (+4.4%) and Rest of World (+8.9%) operations were up, however the group posted a weaker organic performance in North America (-3.8%).
Project Renew
The group said that its multi-year turnaround plan, Project Renew, is on track to deliver €40 million worth of run-rate savings in full-year 2019, and will benefit the group’s EBITDA in the following year.
It also plans to continue the ongoing consolidation of its business, including minor asset disposals.
“Our Q3 performance, which follows a consistent period of improving revenue performance, shows sequential improvement in terms of Group organic revenue,” commented Kevin Toland, Aryzta chief executive.
“We are addressing the challenges presented to our business, particularly in the North American market where sales stabilisation continues to be challenging whilst profitability has been stabilised,” he added. “Continued stabilisation of the business, delivering for our customer base and realising the expected benefits from Project Renew remains our absolute focus within the current financial year.”
European Operations
In Europe specifically, the business saw a 3.7% price/mix improvement and a volume increase of 0.7%.
Switzerland is performing ‘ahead of expectations’, with France France, Poland and Eastern Europe are ‘in line with expectations’, the company added.
The German business is ‘performing well’, while the UK & Ireland operations remain ‘challenging’, it noted.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
