Orkla plans plant modernisation in Poland after distribution company buy

Kobo has a warehouse, truck and sales personnel located in the city of Nisko in the south-eastern of Poland. The business will become part of Orkla’s Food Ingredient’s arm and will deal mainly in supplying artisan bakery ingredients.

Orkla told BakeryAndSnacks.com​ that it saw potential in Poland and would modernise one of its two production sites in the market.

Rational behind Kobo buy​

Kobo, which previously belonged to Boguslaw Kochanczyk, has 20 employees and in 2011, its sales amounted to around €4.4m.

Director of Orkla Food Ingredients strategy Halvor Liodden told BakeryAndSnacks.com: “Kobo is a natural expansion of our long presence in Poland and will strengthen our Sales and Distribution organisation in Poland. “​

Plant modernisation​

He said that Orkla had seen growth in Poland for a number of years in single digits and he called it “a stable market”.​

 “After many years of organic growth in our Credin company in Poland, we now automise and modernise our plant for bread and cakes mixes in Wroclaw,”​ said Liodden.

Orkla Food Ingredients operates in Poland through the Credin Group, which originates from Portugal.

Orkla has been actively expanding its presence in Poland in the past few years.

In February this year, it acquired Sebmag, another Polish sales and distribution company of bakery and confectionery ingredients, while in 2010 it acquired Polish firm Merkur

Orkla recorded €8bn (NOK 61bn) sales in its 2011 results with €534m (NOK 4bn) profits.