Polish poultry business allocates €2.3m to turkey subsidiary

“The loan will be used to finance the current activities of the subsidiary. The contract was signed for a period until 30 September 2021, with an option to be paid back before [this date],” Indykpol said in a filing to the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). “The company will perform its activities at the farms and hatcheries leased from Indykpol​.”

Zdrowy Drob launched its activities on 1 October and will focus on turkey breeding and meat production, with a particular emphasis on products branded as natural and healthy.

Focus on turkey meat​

Indykpol specialises in various processed poultry meat products, including sausages, hams, frankfurters, pâtés and other products, according to data released by the business. The company claimed it was the largest turkey meat processor in the Polish market. Earlier this year, Indykpol adopted a new strategy to focus its activities on turkey meat, eliminate products with low profit margins, and add new products to its portfolio.

“The management board presented the company’s new strategy, which foresees limiting the offer to selected product groups that guarantee a positive ​[profit] margin, to the supervisory board,”​ Indykpol said in a statement.

As part of these efforts, the company decided to shut down its meat processing facility in Świebodzin, in Poland’s western region, which was operated by its offshoot LZD Eldrob. Last December, Indykpol also signed a deal with Polish poultry meat business SuperDrob to sell its hatchery in Turka, in the east of the country.

In 2017, Indykpol announced plans to launch investments worth about PLN 105m (€24.4m) to modernise and raise its capacities in Olsztyn where the company runs a slaughterhouse and a meat processing facility, among others. The project is to raise the plant’s processing capacity by about 74%, improve the quality of its products, upgrade the facility’s evisceration line, as well as expand the slaughterhouse.

In the domestic market, Indykpol distributes its products through a chain of 14 distribution centres that deliver the company’s output to more than 10,000 retail stores. Exports to the European Union’s member states account for about 90% of the company’s export sales.

Based in Olsztyn, in Poland’s north-eastern region, and established in 1951 as a state-owned meat business, the firm was privatised in 1991, and subsequently rebranded as Indykpol. Since October 1994, the company has been listed on the WSE. Local firm Rolmex is Indykpol’s largest shareholder, with a stake of 57.74%, and a further 4.94% of the shares are owned by Rolmex’s subsidiary Warminsko-Mazurski Handel Miedzynarodowy. Private pension fund Nationale-Nederlanden OFE owns a 12.71% stake in the meat business.