February 27, 2013
Atria's 2012 net sales reach US$1.8 billion
Finland's Atria Group's net sales for 2012 reached €1,343.6 million (US$1.8 billion) compared to €1,301.9 million (US$1.7 billion) in the previous year, a rise of €41.7 million (US$54.4 million) from 2011.
Profit increased substantially to €30.2 million (US$39 million) compared to €8.0 million (US$10.4 million). The Group's operating cash flow was €99.6 million (US$130 million) compared to €50.3 million (US$66 million) in 2011. Consolidated free cash flow was €49.7 million (US$65 million) compared to €9.5 million (US$12.4 million) in the previous year.
In the fourth quarter, Atria Finland signed agreements concerning the sale of trade receivables. These agreements decreased the company's trade receivables by a total of €61.2 million (US$80 million) at the end of the period.
At the beginning of 2012, Atria Plc's Board of Directors decided to terminate the share incentive plan for Atria Group's key personnel and replace it with a new long-term reward programme. The share incentive plan no longer applied in 2012.
Atria Scandinavia's net sales in 2012 totalled €387.8 million (US$506.3 million) compared to €74.9 million (US$98 million), showing growth of €12.9 million (US$16.8 million) on-year. In the local currency, net sales were at the same level as in the previous year. EBIT amounted to €8.2 million (US$10.7 million) compared to €13.8 million (US$18 million) in 2011. The reason for this decrease was the higher price of meat raw material in comparison with the previous year.
In January 2012, a programme was launched to improve the profitability of Atria Scandinavia's production of meat products. Atria is investing approximately €4.7 million (US$6.1 million) in new production equipment for the Malmö plant. The manufacture of ham products and the slicing of cold cuts were transferred from the Halmstad plant to the Malmö plant. The programme is expected to generate annual cost savings of approximately €1.5 million (US$2 million). The savings began to materialise in 2012 and will be fully effective from the beginning of 2013.
Atria Russia's net sales for the year amounted to €126.3 million (US$165 million) compared to €123.0 million (US$160.6 million) in 2011. In the local currency, net sales were at the same level as the year before. EBIT showed a loss of €8.6 million (US$11.2 million) compared to a loss of €18.9 million (US$24.7 million) in 2011, showing an improvement of €10.3 million (US$13.45 million) over the previous year.
This increase was due to efficiency improvement measures, price increases and the streamlining of the product range. The poor profitability of primary production weighed down fourth quarter profits. Atria Russia also invested heavily in marketing to increase future sales volumes.
Atria Russia's EBIT includes a non-recurring profit from the sale of a Moscow factory and related non-recurring costs. In total these items had no impact on the EBIT. The facility in question had previously been reported under assets held for sale.
During the reporting period, Atria Russia launched a programme aimed at improving production efficiency at the Sinyavino and Gorelovo plants in St Petersburg. These measures are expected to generate annual cost savings of around €2.0 million (US$2.6 million), which will be fully realised from the beginning of 2013. Meat products are now produced at the centralised Sinyavino and Gorelovo plants.
Atria Baltic's net sales for the year amounted to €34.2 million (US$44.7 million) compared to €35.2 million (US$46 million) in 2011. The Baltic region showed a loss of €1.5 million (US$2 million) reducing the loss in 2011 of €2.2 million (US$2.9 million) by €0.7 million (US$914,000) on-year. The improvement in the reporting period is due to an increase in the sales of further processed products. EBIT in the reference period includes a total of €0.3 million (US$392,000) of non-recurring costs.
