The group's total turnover stood at 4.175 billion Euro. Margins were under pressure during the second half of the year. "Greenyard is currently experiencing a temporary decline in all its segments," says the press release. The Fresh division is experiencing a temporary slowdown in growth, as some already made investments cannot yet become fully operational. For the Long Fresh segment, the price pressure in the Prepared department continues to play a part. Its impact has also been strengthened by the higher purchase prices. The Horticulture segment has also suffered due to the winter conditions in the fourth quarter, which caused the traditional spring activities to start later.
It is therefore expected that the REBITDA for the current financial year will amount to 140 million Euro, which is 4% lower than in the previous year. The REBITDA had been initially expected to reach 153.5 million Euro. The profit before taxes is expected to grow. Last year, this figure stood at € 0.8 million; this year, it will amount to € 5 million. This increase is mainly due to the refinancing implemented in December 2016.
In addition to the pressure on the margins, one-off costs also have an impact on the results. These costs amounted to 27 million Euro, partly due to the takeover of mushroom company Mykogen, the closure of two warehouses in Germany and the halted takeover talks with Dole.
The lower operating performance, combined with investments totalling over 70 million Euro and a number of unrealised divestments of material, non-core activities, are expected to result in a normalised net debt / REBITDA of around 2.8x, in line with the group's covenants, in which the payment of Mykogen's acquisition was already taken into account.
"Greenyard's current annual results don't meet our expectations, partly due to external factors," said Hein Deprez, CEO of Greenyard. "Nevertheless, our confidence in the future remains intact, thanks in part to the direction we chose to take in late January." Then, the Board of Directors agreed that the company should be closer to its customers. "This resulted in a strengthening of our management teams at industry level.
Since this significant change in the organization was made, Greenyard has become more agile and able to make decisions faster. "That confidence in the future is also reflected in the management's prospects. The target is for the REBITDA for the financial year 2018/2019, which started on 1 April, to increase by 10%.