Madrid / ES. (ce) 2017 was a positive year for Cerealto and one of significant growth. The Company ended the year with net sales of 160 million EUR, a 72 percent increase on the figure reached at the close of 2016, and with production reaching 111 thousand tones, a 50 percent increase on the previous financial year.
Last year, Cerealto’s investments exceeded 45 million EUR, which has allowed them to expand their productive capacity and carry out technological and efficiency-based improvements.
The Company purchased Grupo Siro’s factories in Antequera and Briviesca, which have facilitated their entry into the Spanish market with their own production of pastries and sliced bread. Likewise, they acquired Pastificio Mediterranea after four years of operational activity, and attained the completion of the construction of their factory in Worksop, commencing with the production of biscuits, cereal bars and gluten-free products.
All these allowed the Company to grow to a total of 1’800 people. During 2017, they incorporated 900 new colleagues between those from the new factories and the 365 new recruits.
Last year Cerealto ratified their bet for innovation. They doubled their investment in R+D, reaching a figure of 7.5 million EUR. This investment yielded in the launch of 175 new products onto the market to cover consumer demand for a healthy lifestyle, as well as targeting the specific nutritional requirements of a variety of groups.
Additionally, in 2017, Cerealto secured a line of syndicated credit for the sum of 80 million EUR to finance their international development plan, which confirms the solidity and viability of their project.
«2017 proved to be a very positive year for Cerealto. 2018 lies ahead as a year full of new challenges, including consolidating our presence in the international arena, paving the way to the company’s digitization, fulfilling our commitments with clients and of course continuing integrating our teams and standardizing our ways of working», claimed Cerealto’s CEO Rut Aranda.
In 2018, the company estimates to create around 200 new jobs, mainly in Portugal and in the United Kingdom, which will help them reach a workforce of 2’000 colleagues by the end of the present year.
