German fresh produce and flower supplier Landgard has presented its new management team to its producer members, shareholders and the press, at the same time underlining its commitment to returning the struggling company to profitability.
Landgard experienced a difficult year in 2011, when it made a pre-tax loss of €61.5m despite having seen its sales increase by almost 80 per cent since 2006 following a major expansion of its fresh produce import operation in particular.
Reporting on the group's financial performance over the past 12 months at this week's annual general meeting in Kevelaer, Germany, new directors Gerold Kaltenbach and Jürgen Rosar said Landgard had been able to reduce the shortfall in its bottom line to just a single-digit figure.
Around one-third of the losses incurred in 2011 are said to have originated from the supply business itself, with the bulk of the loss attributed to "organisational and internal debt and insolvency-related depreciation".
Kaltenbach told the meeting the management team had identified a total of 450 individual cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing measures which they believed would return the company to profit.
Amid a new atmosphere of transparency and solidarity with its member growers, Landgard appears set to continue introducing and implementing austerity measures over the coming year.
"We are operationally efficient and have a business model that is fundamentally intact," he said.
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