Conserve Italia, one of Europe's largest agri-food companies and a leading supplier of juices and processed fruit and vegetable products, has announced a 4.4 per cent increase in total turnover to €1.1bn for the 2008/09 financial year.
The group's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose to €70.5m during the same period, it revealed. Earnings before interest and taxes, meanwhile, amounted to €35m for the financial year.
Signalling a return to form, the company also announced it had made a net profit of €3.3m during the 12-month period, an improvement on the loss of €12.1m made in 2007/08, largely as a result of divesting the Caivano packhouse near Naples following the integration of canned products specialist Cirio De Rica.
Conserve Italia's net cash reportedly stood at €316.1m at the end of the 2008/09 financial year, mainly as a result of its inventories appreciating in value and in particular an increase in tomato prices.
The group's net capital also saw an increase to €218m, up €47m on the previous year's figure.
Significantly, Conserve Italia's fixed costs fell during the period in question, it revealed, amounting to a total of €67m. However, within that number, marketing costs rose by almost 20 per cent to €33.6m, it reported.
'Maintaining the same level of profitability, the increase in profit registered by our group during the past campaign has generated increase financial resources, thanks to lower fixed structural and industrial costs, which allowed us to make important investments in order to sustain the brand,' commented Angel Sanchez, general director of Conserve Italia.
'Following a period of great investment, in Italy and abroad, begun five years ago, Conserve Italia has ensured that today its industrial plan has been fully realised, with its reorganisation and consolidation phase completed,' said the group's president Maurizio Gardini.
'This process has allowed the group to find the right economic and structural balance, enabling it now to look ahead to the next global market challenges with great confidence,' he added.
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