Vandemoortele: announces outstanding 2023 results

Ghent / BE. (vmg) Vandemoortele NV released its 2023 consolidated financial results. In a challenging year, shaped by an uncertain economy and geo-political tensions, the Group achieved excellent results.

Outstanding financial performance

Group revenue increased by EUR 186 million to EUR 1,925 million. The adjusted Ebitda was EUR 51 million higher than in 2022. «In terms of Ebitda margin, we are back at pre-COVID levels. This proves our business strategy is working», says Group-CEO Yvon Guérin. «Throughout the year, we concentrated on higher added value and a better product, channel and country mix. We also maintained our focus on operational excellence. Both Vandemoortele business lines, Bakery Products (BP) and Plant-Based Food Solutions (PBFS), achieved very strong results in 2023.»

«The first half of 2023 was still marked by inflation. Just like in 2022, we were faced with rising prices, a higher labour cost … Both our business lines handled this very well: our sales volumes remained steady, while our turnover went up. By implementing cost reduction measures and a few necessary price increases, we managed to balance our own costs. One of our main accomplishments was our strong market development in Central Europe.»

To further improve its performance, Vandemoortele worked on many internal transformations in 2023. The most prominent one was the merger of its two transport subsidiaries into one new company: Vandemoortele Transport Solutions. The Vandemoortele Group also reviewed the back-office processes of its sales departments, further introduced unified software solutions, and launched Finance for the Future: a new approach for the finance department. The Board of Directors proposes to distribute a dividend to the eligible shareholders in an amount of EUR 46,96 per share on the results of 2023.

(Table: Vandemoortele NV)

Updated sustainability strategy

In 2023, Vandemoortele changed the name of one of its two business lines from Margarines, Culinary Oils and Fats to Plant-Based Food Solutions. The new plant-based approach comes with a new strategy and the development of several new plant-based products. The first of these will come to market in 2025.

To comply with the CSRD requirements, the new European corporate sustainability reporting directive, Vandemoortele also updated its sustainability strategy in 2023. In the course of a few months, the company conducted a very broad and in-depth consultation exercise, followed by a double materiality analysis. The results affirmed the importance of the existing focus points, but prompted the company to add some new highlights and priorities. The approach will serve as a compass to ensure CSRD compliance in the future.

«Even with the CSRD exercise going on in the background, we still made a lot of progress on our existing sustainability targets and KPIs», says Marc Croonen, Chief Human Resources, Sustainability and Communication. «Our sourcing efforts were among the most notable: we reached our sustainable sourcing targets for various raw materials, from palm oil to cocoa. The grievance mechanism we launched will ensure the further improvement of our supply chain. We are also coming up to speed in terms of carbon reduction. With regard to our associates, we managed to further close the gender pay gap, and we upped the number of training hours per associate. Sustainability is now well embedded in all our processes and procedures.»

The road ahead – Outlook 2024

After a cautious year, marked by uncertainty and internal transformations, Vandemoortele is aiming for volume growth again in 2024. The company has recently enlarged its production capacity and is ready to increase its sales volumes, even in a difficult economic environment. We will continue to pursue our chosen strategic course for the next twelve months. All major new investments will be screened for their sustainable nature. Jean Vandemoortele, Chairman of the Board: «By maintaining our strategic focus on the food service sector and on value added products, we aim for further profitable growth. We will continue our geographical expansion and attend even more to export opportunities outside of Europe. At the same time, we aim to accelerate our digital transformation, particularly in the commercial area.»

«To stay aligned with the CSRD and with the expectations of society, we will launch our new sustainability strategy for 2030, in close collaboration with our stakeholders. Our new sustainability targets are fully in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We are aware that reaching CSRD compliance is a learning process. But the fact that Vandemoortele has been committed to sustainability for years, enhances our credibility and paves our way to the future.»