Danish dairy firm Arla has posted a marginal increase in sales in full-year 2018, to €10.4 billion, up from €10.3 billion the previous year.
In a statement, the group noted that the improved performance was despite a ‘difficult’ first quarter, adding that its transformation programme, Calcium, helped to deliver cost savings ‘far beyond targets for the year’.
The company said that on the back of its improved performance, it plans to pay out its entire net profit (€290 million) for the year to farmer-owners.
This will be paid out as 2.3 cent per kilogram of milk that each farmer-owner has delivered to the cooperative.
Improved Livelihood
Commenting on the payout, chairman Jan Toft Nørgaard said, “As a farmer-owned dairy company, we care deeply about the livelihood of our farmers, and we see how many of our colleagues have been affected by the drought last summer.
“We have this exceptional opportunity to help them without putting our company, Arla, at risk, and I am proud that we have proposed to do so,” added Nørgaard.
Arla’s performance was boosted by a 3.1% increase in branded-sales volumes, it noted, with the branded share of operations growing to 45.2%, which was ahead of targets.
On the effect of Calcium on the business, Arla noted that the programme is on track to deliver more than €400 million of sustainable annual savings by 2021.
“Early in 2018, we took decisive action by ramping up our transformation programme, Calcium, and I am very happy to be able to say that the whole organisation has embraced the journey, and therefore we are already substantially changing the way we work, spend, and invest in our business,” said Arla Foods' CEO, Peder Tuborgh.
“As a result, we improved our performance as a business throughout the year and go into 2019 in a significantly better position than a year ago,” added Tuborgh.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
