Frozen food was well developed in some parts of Europe, but other regions were ripe for further development by the frozen food giant, which clocked up €1.57bn in net sales in 2011, Glenn told Food Navigator. “We have put teams into Russia and Turkey. In Russia we are focused on added value fish. It’s a big market, but it’s underdeveloped from an added-value point of view.”
“In Turkey and in Russia we are investing €5m [per year] in driving both these markets. Turkey is another underdeveloped market for us and we want to see how quickly it can be developed.”
Convenience a major focus
Convenience meals would be a major focus for Iglo in these countries, driven by a growing middle class, he added.
Building on Iglo’s successful launch of its UK Rice Fusions range, he said: “We launched Rice Fusions, microwaveable rice dishes which are continuing to do very well. That’s being rolled out to other European countries. We recently launched it in Portugal and Austria and its going to be launched into Italy.
“One product we are launching in the UK is called Fish Fusions, which is based on a German product. In Germany we are leading the way in fresh, natural fish. Every year we try and do something new to about 40% of our ranges.”
Factory investment
In addition, Iglo sought to maintain investment in its European factories. “We normally handle at least one big project every year. We are expanding our [UK] chicken factory in Lowestoft and we recently announced expansion in our Bremerhaven factory [in Germany], which continues.”
Overall, Glenn said continual innovation would be essential to Iglo’s future success. “Products need to be seen as modern and able to compete with chilled food. That requires continuous innovation.”
“Our strategy is modernization and innovation. The only way [for frozen food] to compete with other food formats is to refresh and modernize ranges quicker than anyone else. You need a business that can afford to invest heavily in research and development resources and insight. That’s some of the problem with frozen food. There’s commoditization going on which isn’t long term sustainable.”
Fish, poultry and vegetables
Glenn said Iglo had achieved strong European growth in fish, poultry and vegetables, but there was room for more. “Our strategy is to pick on these three areas and drive growth. Our core business has grown very nicely over three or four years and I think we can accelerate that.”
On April 23, Iglo Group announced 7% growth in pre-tax profit to €325.8m in the year to December 31, 2011 on net sales up 1.4% to €1.57bn. The company said the growth had been driven by innovation in rice fusions and poultry in Continental Europe.
Iglo Group posted net sales growth across all its three core brands last year, with Findus up 3.3%, Iglo up 2.1% and Birds Eye up 1.2%.