Apetit PLC: announces 9M-2024 financial results

Helsinki / FI. (apg) Operating result in the third quarter improved from the comparison period, Finland’s Apetit Group reported in its Business Review 01 January to 30 September (9M-2024). CEO Esa Mäki: «In Food Solutions, operating result grew clearly year-on-year and the result of Oilseed Products was at the same level as last year. One of the factors behind the improvement in Food Solutions was the normal seasonal fluctuation between quarters.»

«The Group’s net sales increased slightly from the comparison period. In Food Solutions, net sales grew especially in retail trade. Also in the Food service sector, development continued to be strong. In Oilseed Products, net sales were on a par with the comparison period.»

«The Group’s net sales increased slightly from the comparison period. In Food Solutions, net sales grew especially in retail trade. Also in the Food service sector, development continued to be strong. In Oilseed Products, net sales were on a par with the comparison period.»

«Apetit Group’s operating result in 9M-2024 improved from the comparison year and both businesses are ahead of the result for the comparison period. We continue to maintain our profit guidance, according to which the Group’s operating profit is estimated to be at the same level as in the comparison period.»

«In the strategically important ERP project, the production implementation for Food Solutions was carried out successfully as planned. The critical production and order-delivery system functions were successfully deployed at the turn of September and October. Important support systems also came into use at the same time. The ERP project will continue according to the planned schedule until the second half of 2025, proceeding to the production implementation phase in Oilseed Products.»

«The bottling line at the Kantvik vegetable oil milling plant has become operational as planned. The line will be up and running at full capacity in late 2024. The first new Apetit Kotimainen Rapeseed Oil bottles have been produced on the line, and they will be rolled out to retail stores during the rest of the year.»

«The bottling line enables a production method that significantly reduces the amount of plastic as well as logistic load associated with empty bottles. From now on, our plastic use will decrease on average by 41 per cent, taking into account all three sizes of Apetit’s rapeseed oil plastic bottles. The bottles receive their final shape only when they are on the bottling line, which significantly reduces the space required at all stages of the logistics chain. In addition to the new shape, all bottles have a new look and feel and are now part of the Apetit Kotimainen product family.»

«The commercialization of BlackGrain rapeseed powder is progressing. Over the past year, work with BlackGrain has focused on developing the production process and starting production on a commercial scale. In addition to developing the production process, we have, for example, invested in developing the product’s various use cases, both internally at Apetit and together with customers.»

«The harvest season for field vegetables has progressed well. For domestic frozen peas, the harvest season was successful as a whole. We processed more frozen peas than in previous years and the field-to-factory process ran smoothly. For root vegetables, the situation looks good – the long, warm autumn contributed to their growth. Harvest-time production has proceeded as planned. The success of the harvest season will be determined by the harvest conditions in late autumn and preservation of processability until freezing.»

«According to the harvest estimate of the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the domestic turnip rape and rapeseed harvest is expected to increase by more than 40 per cent from last year, to 58 thousand tonnes. If the estimate is realised, the harvest would reach its highest level since 2018. But we hope that the turnip rape and rapeseed cultivation area and harvest volumes will continue to increase. The current level is not enough to cover Apetit’s targeted annual quantity of domestic raw materials. The sustainable cultivation level of domestic oilseed plants is also important for the security of supply.»

«In the autumn, we launched new products into retail stores. In addition to the new rapeseed oil packaging, we are introducing a new Kotimainen Wok Vegetables mix, spicy Falafel Harissa balls and a hot Nduja Pepperoni pizza. We are also renewing our frozen soup selection, introducing a tomato and lentil soup that is perfectly suited to the new nutritional recommendations. Product development and the continuous renewal of the product selection play an important role in commercial success, alongside classic products.» For additional information please read the Company’s PDF file below (165 KB):

20241028-APETIT-PLC-9M-2024.