* Nutreco reviewed business opportunities; concludes that strategic
fundamentals of the strategy 'Driving sustainable growth', continue to be
valid and strong
* Management addresses intended divestment of large non-core businesses and
market reality through new organisational structure, providing better
execution power
* New organisational structure also enhances innovation, partnerships and
building up a portfolio of higher value-added nutritional solutions
* Viggo Halseth, Chief Operating Officer Aquaculture, becomes Chief Innovation
Officer in the new Executive Committee with effect from 6 February 2014 and
will step down as member of the Executive Board. Jerry Vergeer, Chief
Operating Officer Animal Nutrition and member of the Executive Board will
step down from the Executive Board as per 6 February 2014. He will leave
Nutreco with effect from 1 July 2014
* The intended divestment, fewer sizeable value-creative acquisitions than
foreseen and market developments in Norway leads to adjustment of the
previous financial guidance to achieve € 400 million EBITA by 2016
* New guidance: EBITA-margin to increase in the range from 5.5% to 6.5% (2013:
5.6%). Average organic sales volume growth Animal Nutrition 3% and Fish Feed
5%. Existing value-creative acquisition strategy maintained
Knut Nesse, CEO Nutreco: "After careful consideration we intend to divest a
large part of our non-core businesses. As part of this process and in response
to the market reality we have reviewed our business opportunities. We have
concluded that the fundamentals that underpin our strategy 'Driving sustainable
growth' remain strong. The intended divestment of our compound feed and meat
businesses in Spain and Portugal brings us closer to our core growth businesses
and markets. Accordingly our organisational and management structure will be
adjusted. The new top structure better aligns our strategic priorities and
provides better execution power. Innovation is our key growth driver and will
help us to fulfil our mission 'Feeding the Future'. As a consequence we have
established a Chief Innovation Officer function responsible for driving the
innovation agenda, building strategic partnerships and improving strategic
marketing. I am very pleased that Viggo Halseth has accepted this important new
role; he is one of our most experienced managers with a career of 30 years in
Nutreco. I am confident that the new organisational structure of Nutreco will
provide a strong foundation to bring us sustainable growth in the years ahead."
Market driven organisational structure aligns strategic priorities and execution
The intended divestment of the compound feed and meat businesses in Spain and
Portugal and the growth in global products have brought Nutreco closer to its
core growth segments Animal Nutrition and Fish Feed. To accelerate the progress
on the strategic agenda of "Driving sustainable growth" the new structure will
increase execution power. The new structure also enhances our key strategic
drivers of innovation, partnerships and building up a portfolio of higher value-
added nutritional solutions. These changes are a logical step to enhance our
worldwide leadership position in animal nutrition and fish feed. Fundamental in
the new structure are key functional areas such as innovation, partnership
management, strategic marketing, sourcing and human resources anchored globally.
The business structure will consist of two global business units (Salmon Feed
and Feed Additives) and three regional business units (Americas, Asia and EMEA)
that provide enough scale and execution power to accelerate growth into new
markets.
The Executive Board will consist of CEO Knut Nesse and CFO Gosse Boon. In
addition to the CEO and CFO, the new Executive Committee will consist of the
business unit managing directors Martijn Adorf (BU Feed Additives), Steven
Rafferty (BU Salmon Feed), Hugues LeRuz (BU Americas), Harm de Wildt (BU EMEA)
and the Managing Director for BU Asia (to be announced shortly), as well as
Viggo Halseth (Chief Innovation Officer) and Nalin Miglani (Chief Human
Resources & Corporate Development Officer).
Changes to Executive Board
As a result of the new top structure, the Supervisory Board and Jerry Vergeer,
Executive Board member and COO Animal Nutrition, have mutually agreed that he
will step down from the Executive Board as per 6 February 2014 and will leave
Nutreco as per 1 July 2014. Viggo Halseth, COO Aquaculture will also step down
from the Executive Board as per 6 February 2014 and will become Chief Innovation
Officer and member of the Executive Committee.
Jerry Vergeer has had a successful career since joining the company in 2007 as
managing director of Nutreco Canada. In 2009 Jerry Vergeer joined the Executive
Board as Executive-Vice President Agriculture (compound feed and meat business).
In 2011 the Agriculture and Specialties division were merged into a global
Animal Nutrition division and Jerry Vergeer became the Chief Operating Officer
of this division.
Knut Nesse, CEO Nutreco: "We respect the decision of Jerry Vergeer to leave
Nutreco. He has made an outstanding contribution to Nutreco's global Animal
Nutrition business since 2007 and we wish him all the best in his future
endeavours."
New business and market reality
The intended divestment of the compound feed and meat businesses in Spain and
Portugal enhances Nutreco's focus on the core growth segments Animal Nutrition
and Fish Feed. The long term growth trends for these segments are favourable. In
a world with limited natural resources and a growing population, there is a
rising demand for high quality meat, milk, eggs, fish and shrimp. Nutreco will
be the global leader in innovative and sustainable nutritional solutions that
best support the performance of animals, fish and shrimp. The long term average
organic growth rate in Fish Feed is approximately 5% per annum. However for the
short term the revenue growth may be tempered due to the decision made by
Nutreco's largest salmon feed customer Marine Harvest to invest in feed capacity
in Norway. Nutreco aims to maintain its global market leadership in salmon feed
but also diversifies into feed for other fish species in order to reduce its
dependency on the salmon feed market. Nutreco's ambition is to also grow through
value creative acquisitions. Nutreco remains committed to a financially
disciplined execution of this strategy. It concludes that there are less
sizeable value creative acquisitions than foreseen. In the new structure Nutreco
will focus on organic growth driven by innovation and partnerships and will
continue to pursue value-creative acquisition opportunities.
New business and market reality leads to adjustment financial guidance
Nutreco remains fully committed to its strategy 'Driving sustainable growth' and
the fundamental drivers that underpin this strategy. In November 2011 Nutreco
set a target to achieve € 400 million EBITA by 2016 within its strict financial
framework. Nutreco revised its financial guidance due to the intended divestment
of the compound feed and meat businesses in Spain and Portugal and the new
market reality.
Nutreco drives total shareholder return by growing its operational results, both
organically and through acquisitions, in combination with a strong cash flow and
a solid balance sheet. The new financial guidance is:
Nutreco:
* Operating margin, defined as EBITA including corporate costs and before
exceptional items divided by revenue, targeted to increase over time in the
range from 5.5% to 6.5% (2013: 5.6%)
* Return on average capital employed of at least 15% (2013: 17.9%)
* Existing value-creative acquisition strategy maintained
Animal Nutrition:
* Operating margin, defined as EBITA before exceptional items divided by
revenue, targeted to increase over time in the range from 6 to 7 percent
(2013: 6.1%).
* Average organic sales volume growth: 3% (2013: -0.8%)
Fish Feed:
* Operating margin, defined as EBITA before exceptional items divided by
revenue, targeted to be in the range from 6 to 7 percent (2013: 6.4%).
* Average organic sales volume growth: 5% (2013: -1.4%)
Strategy: 'Driving sustainable growth'
Nutreco's strategy 'Driving sustainable growth' is to grow and improve
profitability by providing innovative and sustainable nutritional solutions for
its customers. This will be realised by focusing on a higher value added
portfolio of nutritional solutions such as premixes, feed specialties and fish
feed, and by expanding into the growth geographies of Latin America, Russia,
Asia and Africa, which will see the largest increases in both production and
consumption of animal protein food products.
END OF PRESS RELEASE
Note to the editor (not for publication)
This press release is also published in Dutch. In the event of differences, the
English language version shall prevail as the authoritative version.
Nutreco
Nutreco is a global leader in animal nutrition and fish feed. Our advanced feed
solutions are at the origin of food for millions of consumers worldwide.
Quality, innovation and sustainability are guiding principles, embedded in the
Nutreco culture from research and raw material procurement to products and
services for agriculture and aquaculture. Experience across 100 years brings
Nutreco a rich heritage of knowledge and experience for building its future.
Nutreco employs approximately 7,500 people in 30 countries, with sales in 80
countries. Nutreco is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam
and reported annual revenue of continuing operations of € 3.9 billion in 2013.
www.nutreco.com
For more information:
Jurgen Pullens, Director Investor Relations
Telephone: +31 (0)33 422 6134
Mobile: +31 (0)6 51 599 483
E-mail: jurgen.pullens@nutreco.com
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are statements that are not based on historical fact, including
statements about our beliefs and expectations. Any statement in this
announcement that expresses or implies our intentions, beliefs, expectations or
predictions (and the assumptions underlying them) is a forward-looking
statement. Such statements are based on plans, estimates and projections as
currently available to the management of Nutreco. Forward-looking statements
therefore speak only as of the date they are made and we assume no obligation to
publicly update any of them in the light of new information or future events.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of
significant factors could therefore cause actual future results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement.
Such factors include but are not limited to conditions on the markets in Europe,
the United States and elsewhere from which we derive a substantial portion of
our revenue, potential defaults on the part of borrowers or trading
counterparties, the implementation of our restructuring programme including the
envisaged reduction in headcount and the reliability of our risk management
policies, procedures and methods. For more information on these and other
factors, please refer to our annual report. The forward-looking statements
contained in this announcement are made as of the date hereof and the companies
assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this
announcement.
Nutreco moves closer to core businesses:
http://hugin.info/133565/R/1759567/595197.pdf
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originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Nutreco via GlobeNewswire
[HUG#1759567]
