Terrena maintains “satisfactory” results despite the avian flu and the Ukrainian crisis – Le Journal des Entreprises – Loire-Atlantique
Terrena had predicted a complicated year 2022, troubled by multiple crises. That of the consequences of the Covid, still topical at the start of last year, the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the vagaries of the weather, and above all the avian flu which wreaked havoc on farms. But the company seems to have overcome the obstacles without major difficulty. The group, made up of 20,117 farmers and 12,366 employees spread over the Great West, whose headquarters are located in Ancenis (Loire-Atlantique), saw its net income increase to 16.8 million euros, against 12.5 million euros in 2021. “This increase comes in particular from the valuation of agricultural prices, and from better operational performance”, testifies Alain Le Floch, CEO of Terrena. “For example, to deal with the rise in energy prices, we have a specialized unit internally with purchasing skills in the energy market”. This result allows the cooperative to return 4.2 million euros to its members in the form of rebates, or even interest on cooperative shares.
The vegetable to compensate
Terrena publishes for the year 2022 an increase in turnover of 8%, to 5.4 billion euros. This figure is certainly not a standard measure for the agri-food company, because it remains subject to fluctuations in raw materials, but it nevertheless serves as a benchmark. In order to better situate the creation of value, Terrena posts an Ebitda of 135 million euros, close to that of 2021 which gravitated to 137 million and constituted a record for the company. “These results are satisfactory. We have significantly decreased in our livestock-related activities due in particular to the avian flu, but we have progressed in our agricultural and plant activities, such as in field crops (cereals, editor’s note) where we have today 1.7 million tonnes of collection. These two dynamics offset each other to achieve results similar to 2021”, explains Alain Le Floch.
Investments maintained
Terrena continued to invest in 2022, with 126 million euros invested (+15% compared to 2021). One part corresponds to the new Galliance slaughterhouse (Terrena poultry division) which has just been inaugurated at a cost of 43 million euros and which has been operational since the end of 2022. It complements the three other Galliance slaughterhouses, with a capacity 550,000 chickens per week, from 600 breeders. In particular, it will take into account poultry activities from differentiated sectors (organic, red label and New Agriculture, a top-of-the-range Terrena brand). The group has also invested 28 million euros in various agricultural activities such as breastfeeding centres. “We will maintain an envelope of 125 million euros for 2023”, adds Alain Le Floch.
The activity in organic farming represents 133 million euros in turnover, i.e. a maintenance (decrease of only 1%) compared to last yeardespite the current crisis in organic products. And if inflation persists and tends to constrain the organic market and its producers in the long term, “we will bring solidarity into play internally at Terrena”, explains the group’s president, Olivier Chaillou.
