Company update: ForFarmers

Turnover increased from €741 million in 2008 to €1.9 billion in 2009. The record profit is a result of a very good year for its participations, cost reductions and a excellent ingredient purchase position.

 

The cooperative also saw some financial benefits, such as the sale of poultry processor Plukon.

 

The cooperative FromFarmers UA owns 94% of all shares of ForFarmers Group BV (the ‘holding’). The members will receive €9.6 million in cash for their participation shares. The rest will be added to the cooperative’s capital reserves.

 

ForFarmers has production units in The Netherlands and Germany (Bela Thesing) and manufactures 2.4 million tonnes of animal feed on an annual basis.

 

ForFarmers (57.7%) participates with two other Dutch cooperatives AgriFirm (32.3%) and Rijvallei (10%) in raw material purchasing organisation Cefetra.

 

Net profit of Cefetra last year increased to €22.3 million (2008: €21.4m), the highest level ever.

 

The money will be used for expansion of purchase and distribution in Central Europe and the Baltic States. Also 30% of the profit is returned as dividend to the share holding cooperatives.

 

Turnover in volume last year decreased from 16.6 million to 15.2 million tonnes as a result of the credit crunch.

 

This year an increase in volume of 5% is expected. Cefetra has an equity value of €82 million and solvability is around 33%, so there is enough space for growth and takeovers.