FDBusiness.com

Reduced costs and improved results at its foreign subsidiaries were behind an increase in full year net profit from DKr1.16b to DKr1.65b (Eur220m) at international meat group Danish Crown. Revenue advanced from DKr44.76b to DKr45.21b at the group, which is Europe´s second largest pig slaughtering business.

Since May 2009, Danish Crown has been implementing an efficiency improvement programme – DC Future –designed to cut costs, restore competitiveness and improve earnings. The strategy is now starting to pay dividends.

A total of DKr1.32b will be paid out to the company’s owners, the highest level of supplementary payments in Danish Crown’s twenty years history. The supplementary payments will translate into DKr0.75 per kilogram for sow producers, DKr0.95 for pork producers and DKr1.25 for cattle producers.

Danish Crown’s foreign divisions also posted record earnings last year. The Danish group exports over Eur3.4 b of meat annually. This represents 3.9% of Denmark’s total exports and 39% of the country’s agricultural exports.

In recent years, Danish Crown has become increasingly international, and nearly two-third of the workforce is based outside of Denmark. ”This is a natural development for a company which exports approx. 90% of its production. Moreover, a continuous reduction in production costs is needed if we are to remain competitive. Today, 84% of our processing activities take place outside Denmark, and this is a precondition for being able to slaughter Danish pigs in Denmark, and thereby maintain a considerable number of workplaces in this country,” says Kjeld Johannesen, chief executive of Danish Crown.