Bonduelle: Half-year growth of 13.6% and better competitiveness in sight in the US

(AOF) – Bonduelle rose 3.4% to 12.80 euros after the publication of good half-yearly activity figures. The group’s revenue for the first half of the financial year 2022-2023 (from July 1 to December 31, 2022) amounted to 1.24 billion euros compared to 1.09 billion euros in the first half of the previous year, an increase of 13.6 % at current exchange rates and 6.1% like-for-like. Favorable currency trends boosted business growth by 7.5%.

Its revenue growth in the second quarter accelerated compared to the first quarter: +16% at current exchange rates and +7.6% like-for-like.

Following the publication of these financial results, Midcap Partners remains cautious and confirms its recommendation for Hold on Bonduelle by maintaining its price target of 12.9 euros. The analyst justifies himself by explaining that “Bonduelle does not confirm its annual targets and that these will be specified during the half-year results, suggesting a possible lowering of the guidance”.

Bonduelle’s good results are driven by its activity in Europe, which represents 59.4% of activity in the period, showing a total increase of +11.4% at current exchange rates during the first half of the year and +12.3% like-for- like. In particular, the ready-to-use fresh produce business (salad bags and catering products), where cost inflation (and thus price increases) is more limited, showed growth in value and stable volumes.

In addition, its revenue outside Europe, which represents 40.6% of activity in the first half of the year, shows a variation of +17.0% at current exchange rates and -3.4% in comparable data.

In an unstable geopolitical context, the Eurasia zone had increased sales (canned and frozen), linked to price increases, with volumes in this zone slightly down compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, in North America, the fresh ready-to-use business fell during the period, affected by the loss of contracts in the second half of the 2021-2022 fiscal year by a lettuce market – itself in decline, but also by an agronomic crisis affecting the yield of lettuce in Salinas- region (California), generating a significant shortage of products and an increase in procurement prices.

In this connection, the specialist in industrial processing of vegetables announces that it wants to improve its competitiveness on the market for ready-to-use fresh produce in the USA. It will thus adapt its industrial structure to its activity on the east coast of the country with a merger of the production activities in Florence and Swedesboro (New Jersey) in the coming months.

To achieve its business growth and profitability targets for the 2022-2023 financial year, Bonduelle warns that this will depend both on consumption dynamics, which are difficult to predict, and also on price increases, which are essential to compensate for changes in certain components of costs price, especially agricultural materials.