FDBusiness.com

Reflecting contributions from acquisitions and underlying sales growth within its food business, Aryzta increased revenue by 28.8% to €3.88 billion and group EBITA by 44.1% to €393.3 million in the year ended July 31st 2011.The Zurich-based food group, which is a global leader in speciality bakery, improved its EBITA margin by 100bps to 10.1%.

Aryzta has operations in Europe, North and South America, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to its core bakery activities, Aryzta also owns 71% of Origin Enterprises, the Dublin-based agri-services business.

Revenue at Aryzta’s food business increase by 53.5% to €2.58 billion during the year with sales at Food Europe up by 10.5%, Food North America advancing by 112% and Food Rest of World by 403%. The Food Group’s EBITA rose by 55.6% to €322.3 million, with Food Europe up by 13.6%, and Food North America and Food Rest of World registering gains of 113% and 313% respectively.

Owen Killian, chief executive of Aryzta, comments: “2011 was a year of substantial repositioning for Aryzta. Bakery volumes doubled leading to a 53.5% increase in Food Group revenue as a result of acquisition activity one year previously. Aryzta is now much better positioned opposite consumers with greater global access to limited serve restaurants and retail, complementing our well established deeply distributed food service business.”

He continues: “Consumer confidence improved during the year leading to underlying Food Group revenue growth of 2.7%. It remains a tough economic environment for consumers who now also are dealing with higher food costs with less disposable income. We remain focused on working with our customers to manage input price inflation in an effective manner to maintain affordability without compromising quality or service.”