Medellin’s Grupo Nutresa Sees 1Q 2016 Sales Soar; EBITDA Sets Record
Medellin-based multinational food producer Grupo Nutresa announced April 29 that its first quarter (1Q) 2016 sales jumped 21.9% year-on-year (y-o-y), to COP$2.1 trillion (US$738 million).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) hit COP$281 billion (US$98.7 million), up 19.6% y-o-y.
Colombian organic sales growth rose 9.2% y-o-y thanks to a 10% hike in average prices, while sales outside of Colombia rose 32.4% y-o-y, accounting for 40.5% of total sales (worth US$261 million) – the highest level in the history of Nutresa.
Grupo Nutresa also boosted its weighted market share in Colombia, recording a 61.2% boost y-o-y, “thus proving the competitiveness of our model,” according to the company.
“While the higher costs of raw materials — exposed to [Colombian peso] devaluation — continue to have an effect on gross profit, factors such as proper management of prices, the strategy of diversification in markets and categories, product innovation reaching 16.9% of sales, management and production cost control, among others, allow us to continue presenting balanced results in terms of profitability and sales growth,” according to Nutresa.
Operating profit in 1Q 2016 rose to COP$233 billion (US$81.8 million), with an operating margin of 11.1%, “reflecting a good performance of administrative and production expenses, which increased below the Colombian inflation rate,” according to the company.
Net expenses also rose, due to “higher financial leverage from February 2015 for the acquisition of Grupo El Corral, the increase of the total debt cost due to higher market reference rates, and the effect of the [COP/US dollar] exchange rate due to the devaluation of the Colombian peso,” according to the company.
