Lembeke / BE. (lbbv) In 2019, Lotus Bakeries Group’s consolidated turnover increased by EUR 56.3 million to EUR 612.7 million, representing 10.1 percent growth. The solid growth in the first half of the year therefore continued in the second half. The reported growth was positively impacted by the consolidation of Kiddylicious for a full year, accounting for 2.4 percent of growth. Exchange rates also had a small positive impact on turnover for 2019.
Once again, the first and largest strategic pillar, Lotus Biscoff, grew most strongly in absolute terms. The internationalization of Lotus Biscoff, Lotus Biscoff Spread and Lotus Biscoff Ice Cream continues unabated, resulting in double digit growth in 2019. The large consumer markets of the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), France and China continue to grow strongly. Solid growth was also recorded in many other countries, including South Korea, Australia, Spain, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Lotus Biscoff was launched in the US market in 1986, the Group opened its own sales office in 2009 and in 2016 the US became the largest national market for Biscoff. Biscoff has managed to sustain this significant growth in the US in recent years. Penetration – the number of households buying Lotus Biscoff at least once a year – in the US rose to almost 5 percent or 6 million households. In the largest consumer market in the world, this represents 1 billion cookies. It also demonstrates that there is still plenty of potential to win many more Americans over to Biscoff and the Biscoff taste.
2019 also saw the international launch of Biscoff Ice Cream, as a third global category under Lotus Biscoff. The ice cream was already sold in Belgium and the Netherlands, but a new international range has recently been introduced in supermarkets in the US, the UK, France and South Korea.
Lotus Bakeries’ second strategic pillar, which also achieved double digit growth, is natural snacking within Natural Foods. For the first time, Nãkd’s growth was supported by a TV commercial in 2019, both in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. Bear also saw turnover grow strongly internationally. In the US, the brand is gradually gaining a strong position nationally in the ‘kids fruit snacking’ category. Kiddylicious continues to grow strongly in the UK, mainly through expansion of distribution and the successful introduction of new products.
The third pillar of the Lotus Bakeries strategy is the Focus on ‘local heros’ in the home markets of Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Sweden.
In Belgium, as a brand, Lotus has managed to achieve a particularly high market share and level of penetration among Families in recent years. This achievement is due to a strong focus on our ‘hero’ products in the waffle and cake range. We continue to Focus on product innovations with the introduction in 2019 of the chocolate-filled Madeleine, the Suzy milk chocolate Liege waffle and the expansion of the Tartélice range.
Although the gingerbread category came under pressure, turnover remained stable in the Netherlands across the various brands. Lotus Bakeries’ aim, as category captain, to bring about growth in the gingerbread category, once more was reinforced by an integrated action plan in 2019. The most visible actions are the introduction of the new packaging design For Peijnenburg and the launch at the beginning of January 2020 of the new media campaign For Peijnenburg starring Dutch singer Frans Bauer, all under the baseline ‘Van Happen word je Happie’ (Eating Peijnenburg makes you happy).
Waffles are by Far the biggest ‘local hero’ product in France. These Lotus waffles saw double digit growth once again in 2019, spread across nearly all retailers. We will therefore invest further in this category with TV advertising and the necessary sales and marketing support in the various regions.
Within this pillar of Local specialities, Annas Pepparkakor is another key brand in the portfolio. Annas is a Firm Favourite in Sweden and Finland, achieving good growth in 2019 For the Fifth year in a row. This year also saw the successful Launch of Annas Pepparkakor ice cream. For more details please read Lotus Bakeries’ press release (PDF | 245 KB).
