Snellman’s development remains steady

Of the Group's business areas, turnover was highest in Pet Food (+29%), Panini (+5%) and Ready Meals (+3%). Due to raw material shortages, Meat Processing did not fully meet demand, and net sales growth was down to 1%. In the Food Service business area, net sales declined by 11%. The past year for the business area was marked by the optimisation of the product range, and the desire to move sales to increasingly processed products.

The expansion of the Kokkirtartano factory in Kerava was completed, and production was fully underway in the autumn of 2017. This was Snellman Group’s most significant investment of the last few years, with a total value of EUR 10.5 million. Snellman Group’s total investments for 2017 were EUR 14.5 million.

In Sweden, we significantly increased sales of Panini and the Pet Food MUSH. By contrast, our Ready Meals company Carolines Kök faced sales difficulties, and these partly affected our strategic approach to domesticity for broiler and meat. In line with our policy, we only use Finnish broiler and meat in Finland, and in Sweden only Finnish or Swedish broiler and meat.

The general economic situation in our home markets of Finland and Sweden strengthened over the course of the year. At the same time, high quality and domesticity are becoming increasingly important to consumers in guiding their purchasing decisions. Continuing to follow these trends will ensure that Snellman continues to have good growth prospects. We also want to safeguard the continuation of Finnish primary production, and the availability of domestic ingredients.

Snellman Group’s balance sheet improved from the year before, and the degree of indebtedness decreased. The Group’s equity ratio increased to 46.4% (42.8%). At the end of 2017, Snellman had 1,500 (1,342) employees.

“We can be fairly satisfied with our 2017 figures. We believe that in 2018 we will increase our turnover more strongly than last year. A continually improving understanding of our customers’ changing needs and the increasing amount of cooperation in our business areas will ensure that Snellman will continue to develop strongly in the coming years,” says Erkki Järvinen, who took over as CEO of Snellman Group in February 2018.