Rising sales ease pressure on Finnish meat producer
Net sales increased by over 5% to €332m in the first three months of the year (Q1) from 1 January 2017 to 31 March 2017.
Meat processor Atria, which has operations in Scandinavia, eastern Europe and Russia, said sales of meat increased year on year in all of its main markets, mainly thanks to strategic acquisitions, notably Well-Beef and Lagerbergs.
Atria CEO Juha Gröhn said the meat market was “beginning to stabilise after years of instability”.
He added this would improve “operating conditions for those business areas in which the company has slaughterhouse and meat-cutting operations”.
Net sales increased by over 5% to €332m in the first three months of the year (Q1) from 1 January 2017 to 31 March 2017.
Meat processor Atria, which has operations in Scandinavia, eastern Europe and Russia, said sales of meat increased year on year in all of its main markets, mainly thanks to strategic acquisitions, notably Well-Beef and Lagerbergs.
Atria CEO Juha Gröhn said the meat market was “beginning to stabilise after years of instability”.
He added this would improve “operating conditions for those business areas in which the company has slaughterhouse and meat-cutting operations”.
Asian export upswing
The meat processor was further buoyed by the fact its first-ever shipments of pork to China will start in May this year. In addition to China, Atria’s chicken slaughterhouses in Nurmo and Sahalahti have been granted export licences to export meat to Japan, meaning that, this year, Atria will have access to two of the biggest meat markets in Asia. The full commercial effect of market access to the two countries has not been disclosed.
Atria has also launched a company-wide project to drive sustainable growth across the workforce through a series of leadership training schemes.
In Finland, Atria’s home market, net sales came to €228m, rising from €224m in the same period a year earlier. The increase was largely down to the acquisition of Well-Beef in 2016 and the extra sales that came with it.
Sales for Atria’s Scandinavian division, based in Sweden, increased to €84m from €75m in Q1 2016.
Russia also saw sales rise from €13m last year to €18m in Q1 2017. An increase in raw material costs and extra marketing spending saw Atria post a €1.7m loss in pre-tax profits.
The Baltic division saw year-on-year sales increase by around €800,000, as average sales prices were higher than they were in Q1 2016. Industrial profitability had also been improved, claimed the company.
