2022 was not a straightforward year. For no-one. Already in late 2021, we noticed the first signs of (hyper) inflation, global businesses were confronted post-COVID with further disruptions in the chain and the labour market became more and more tight. The macro-economic context became even more complex in February 2022, with the armed Russian invasion in Ukraine. This led, among many other things, to an explosion of energy prices. Greenyard CFO Geert Peeters explains how Greenyard kept a steady course on these turbulent waters.

The impact of these combined events became increasingly visible in the months after March 2022, both within our sector and across the global economy. Re-reading our last annual report, the word ‘stagility’ – combining a stable long-term vision with the flexibility to adapt quickly to changing circumstances – proved almost to be prophetic. ‘Stagility’ was the guiding principle for how we successfully steered Greenyard through, yet another, globally challenging year.

Swiftly shifting gears, in close collaboration with growers and customers, proved to be vital. More specifically, constantly looking for efficient and effective solutions for our customers and for their consumers allowed us to guarantee stability and value creation, which is right at the heart of our customer promise. The trust that we have built over the past years, and the transparency we have displayed on a daily basis in our close relationships, now also allowed for open communication and a transparent dialogue about rising input prices and the value we create for our customers, and for partners throughout the entire food value chain.

Greenyard continuously monitored rising costs in various cost categories and limited them as much as possible. We acted fast and discussed prices with our suppliers and customers on various moments during the year. This was necessary to keep the chain viable at all times, and at the same time preserving the margins and fair value for Greenyard, our suppliers and our customers. As a result, at Group level, we were able to increase our prices by 8,7%, in line with (but still just below) inflation.

Despite volumes in the Fresh segment dropping after COVID, and pressure on purchasing power for end-consumers, Greenyard was able to strengthen its market position. Especially in those markets where we have integrated, and long-term, customer relationships. In Long Fresh, sales initially grew due to the revival of food service and industry customers, and following an increased hunger for convenience products. The underlying trend towards healthier and easy-to-prepare products remains strong. A transition to close-to-crop, pure-plant foods that is happening right now, and which is straight in line with Greenyard’s global offering. Additionally, the trend from branded products to private label also favours our performance.

To face new challenges vigorously, we also worked on upgrading our financing. In May 2022, € 90m of cash was raised via a real estate transaction of the Greenyard Prepared site in Bree. The proceeds were fully used to diversify our financing and to voluntarily reduce bank debt. A new five-year bank financing was then concluded in September, which would replace the existing financing. This laid a stable foundation for growth in the coming years.

Anticipating rising interest rates, a substantial part of the floating interest rate was already hedged before summer. In a second step, the bank loans were converted to sustainability-linked loans in early 2023. At Greenyard, sustainability is fully integrated in all decisions and policies. After all, without sustainability and without nature, our products would not even exist. So, it was natural for us to also build sustainability objectives into our financing.

Already in the first half of the year, we saw that sales increased, and our Adjusted EBITDA was moving in the right direction to deliver on stable results. Still, like everyone experienced, the macroeconomic context and volatility was worrying. At the same time, we noticed that Greenyard was a stable factor in a very difficult market situation and that we were gaining market share. However, it was difficult to look far ahead and estimate how quickly the macroeconomic and political context would change.

Today, we see that estimates for the fresh fruit and vegetable European market indicate an approximate decline of 10% in fresh fruit and vegetable consumption for last year, 2022. It seems that consumers bought cheaper products within the Fresh segment and even temporarily switched to other, often less healthy, product categories. Contrary to these projections, Greenyard, sees only a very limited decline of –1,9% in volume in its Fresh segment. And in its Long Fresh segment, there is even volume growth of 4,5%. As a result, volumes at group level remained stable (- 0,8%).

For the full-year 22/23 we announce an Adjusted EBITDA of € 167,3m. As a result, we realise a margin of 3,6% despite sharply increased input prices, yet on stable group volumes.

This gives confidence for the future.

In parallel, Greenyard displayed its agility. We took the necessary measures in the past year to prepare ourselves and to quickly adapt to the changed market conditions, improving our overall position. We did so by taking additional organisational measures that generated one-off expenses. The Fresh activity in the UK was phased out, and we are currently looking at integrating the Greenyard Fresh France organisation into neighbouring countries. Combined with increased financial costs due to rising interest rates, which were still limited thanks to our proactive hedging measures, the net result amounted to € 9,3m.

Greenyard's financial position further strengthened with net financial debt decreasing from € 303,6m to € 277,3m. This lowered the pre-IFRS 16 debt ratio from 2,4x to 2,2x.

On the back of these strong results, Greenyard has therefore decided to pay a dividend for the first time since October 2018, as part of a stable dividend policy. For the past financial year, a dividend of € 0,10 per share will be proposed to the general meeting of shareholders.

Looking forward, and following our performance last year, we trust that growth will continue.  For the coming year, we see an increasing Adjusted EBITDA of € 175-180m for a revenue of € 4,9bn. Looking to 25/26, we have the ambition to grow further to € 5,4bn revenue (5% CAGR) with an Adjusted EBITDA of € 200-210m.

Greenyard remains mindful to further growth opportunities through the expansion of its integrated customer relationships, an innovative product portfolio and through external growth. We fully embrace the role we have within the transition towards a healthy and sustainable future, and the impact we can have on a global scale within this journey. We look forward to further pursuing our mission and purpose and accelerating our ambition to improve life.