Refresco Gerber Reports Solid 2015 Results
Refresco Gerber, the leading European bottler of soft drinks and fruit juices for retailers and branded customers, has reported a 1% decline in revenue to €2.016 billion for 2015 with adjusted EBITDA increasing by 3.8% to €216.2 million. Reported net profit rose from €38.7 million in 2014 to €41.8 million. Net profit, adjusted for one-off items, amounted to €77.8 million compared to €46.7 million in the previous year.
The 1% decrease in revenue was due to passing on more favourable input prices to customers. Volume sales in 2015 increased 2.1% to 6.095 billion litres, with co-packing volumes up by 8.8% or 19.1% of total volumes. Gross profit margin per litre at 14.2 euro cents was the same as in 2014.
Hans Roelofs, chief executive of Refresco Gerber, comments: “Looking back on 2015 I am pleased to confirm that we have delivered in line with our outlook to grow volumes faster than the market. We additionally report a slightly better than foreseen gross profit margin per litre and end the year with a strong cash position. Revenue declined slightly due to the passing on of more favourable input prices to our customers, a dynamic that we have highlighted in previous quarters.”
Hans Roelofs, chief executive of Refresco Gerber.
He continues: “On strategy, we took significant steps in pursuit of our goals. We successfully completed our IPO and refinancing while continuing to grow our business and maintain our margins. We continued investing in new bottling lines and new warehousing facilities, enhancing our manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, especially in the growth category of Aseptic PET. Our efforts to grow Co-Packing relative to Private Label also paid off with an 8.8% increase over the full year.”
In line with its buy and build strategy, Refresco Gerber is acquiring the PepsiCo bottling facility in Hamburg, Germany, including a ten year co-packing agreement. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016. Refresco Gerber operates production in the Benelux, Finland, France, Germany, Iberia, Italy, Poland and the UK.
“For 2016, we expect an organic volume growth compared to 2015 in the low to mid-single digits and gross profit margin per liter to be marginally lower compared to 2015,” he says.
