ForFarmers’ 2015 revenue increased by 1 percent to EUR2,244.5 million (US$2,516.74 million).
“In a year with challenging conditions for the agricultural sector and our customers, I am pleased with the achievements of ForFarmers,” said Yoram Knoop, CEO of ForFarmers. “Volumes, gross profit and profit all increased. With the ongoing implementation of Horizon 2020, the transformation from a local compound feed supplier to a leading international feed company is fully underway.”
The operating profit over 2015 (excluding incidental items) increased by 8.1 percent from EUR59.6 million (US$66.8 million) in 2014 to EUR64.4 million (US$72.2 million) in 2015.
In 2015, the total feed volume, including the net effect of acquisitions, increased by 3.8 percent to 9.1 million tons, compared with 8.8 million tons in 2014. The like-for-like volume increase was 1.3 percent. In the Netherlands cluster, a like-for-like growth of 4 percent was realized. In the Germany/Belgium cluster, there was a slight decline in volume of 0.6 percent, caused by the fact that the cluster acted more restrained towards lower profitability longer-term contracts (tenders). In the United Kingdom cluster, the like-for-like volume declined by 1 percent. This decline was mainly caused by a drop in demand from ruminant farmers, in particular in the DML segment. Due to acquisitions the total volume in the United Kingdom did, however, increase by 6.4 percent. The volume of compound feed of ForFarmers remained stable compared to 2014. An increase was realized in the ruminant and the poultry sector, the swine sector showed a slight decrease in volume.
In 2015, the gross profit amounted to EUR424.2 million (US$475.4 million), an increase of EUR30.5 million (US$34.2 million). The growth was mainly in the Netherlands cluster, driven by higher total feed volume, the application of nutritional knowledge, a better product mix and more specialties sold. There was also moderate growth of gross profit EUR0.7 million (US$0.8 million) for the Germany Belgium cluster caused by a better product mix with more specialties. In the United Kingdom cluster, gross profit decreased, corrected for currency and acquisition effects, by EUR2.1 million (US$2.4 million), as a result of lower volumes and margin pressure in the DML segment. The strategic partnerships with Nutreco and Agrifirm (Crop) made a contribution to the increase of margins, with benefits coming from economies of scale.
