Nutresa 1Q 2020 Profits Rise 9% Year-on-Year

While most Colombia-based companies are getting clobbered by the Coronavirus crisis, companies making and selling groceries and prepared foods through stores to date are doing relatively well.

Example: Medellin-based multinational foods giant Grupo Nutresa on April 24 reported a COP$190 billion (US$47 million) consolidated net profit for first quarter (1Q) 2020, up 9.1% year-on-year.

Consolidated sales rose 18.4%, to COP$2.7 trillion (US$668 million), according to the company.

“Excluding the acquisitions of Atlantic Food Service in Colombia, and of Cameron’s Coffee in the United States, the group’s organic sales growth was 13%,” according to Nutresa.

“In Colombia, sales had a solid performance at COP$1.6 trillion (US$395 million), 61.2% of the group’s total sales, with a growth of 15.5% compared to the same period in 2019.

“Organic growth was equally outstanding, with an increase of 11.6%. About 85% of the growth dynamic in Colombia was driven by higher volumes.”

International sales expressed in Colombian pesos rose 23%, to COP$1 trillion (US$247 million).
“International organic growth, in U.S. dollars, was up 2%, and in COP, up 15.3%,” the company added.

Positive sales growth came from “a portfolio of foods for daily consumption at home, which have had adequate availability in traditional channels such as neighborhood stores, supermarkets, and supermarkets, as well as in alternative channels of the group,” according to Nutresa.

Operating profit rose 11.5%, to COP$256.6 billion (US$63 million), while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 17.5%, to COP$376 billion (US$93 million). with EBITDA margin at 14.1%.

“This result was the result of a management oriented towards the rationalization of spending, with the aim of having an increasingly efficient and flexible structure,” according to Nutresa.

Financial expense rose 6.1% “derived from the greater indebtedness for the acquisition of Cameron’s Coffee in 2019 and new loans for working capital taken during the period,” according to the company.