Royal Agrifirm published its 2021 Annual Report. According to the report, the company managed to achieve good results despite some challenging conditions. It will pay around €25 million to around 10,000 Dutch members of Coöperatie Koninklijke Agrifirm U.A.
The Royal Agrifirm Group announced its 2021 results on 30 March 2022. Agrifirm will pay approximately €25 million from its result over 2021 to the approximately 10,000 Dutch members of Coöperatie Koninklijke Agrifirm U.A.
“We can look back on 2021 with satisfaction. In spite of the extremely challenging conditions, Agrifirm still managed to achieve very good results. It was a year in which corona once again put its mark on our way of working. Despite the fact that it was a challenging situation for our employees, customer service and company performance did not suffer,” says CEO Dick Hordijk.
Net profit amounted to €33.9 million, of which €25 million will flow back to members of the Cooperative. “Over a period of 10 years, Agrifirm has paid over €169 million from its result to the members. Partly in the form of discounts on purchased products, as well as from the profit earned from foreign operations and Welkoop, for example,” Dick Hordijk continues.
Here are some highlights from the 2021 annual report:
“Agrifirm had an excellent financial position in 2021, with solvency at 55 percent. The positive cash flow from operating activities decreased from €56.7 million in 2020 to €38.5 million in 2021, primarily due to higher working capital. Mainly as a result of higher raw material prices.”
CHALLENGING CONDITIONS
The past year forced Agrifirm and its members to cope with many challenges, such as corona, animal diseases, shortages of raw materials, high feed prices, and social and political pressures. “Developments in the agricultural sector directly impact Agrifirm’s results. Our worldwide business units in the livestock farming sectors encountered many difficulties, but in spite of challenging conditions still managed to achieve good results. Our plant-based branch in the Netherlands, the laboratory NutriControl and the Welkoop shops performed extremely well.”
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
“Sustainability reporting is for the first time included as part of the Annual Report. These objectives will be definitively established in 2022. Agrifirm is convinced that the responsible production of raw materials must be further scaled up. For example, the market must be able to trust that their sustainably purchased soy is indeed deforestation-free. Our pilot with FrieslandCampina gives this tangible substance. In addition, climate targets for production sites were discussed last year. Agrifirm aims to work towards making energy consumption more sustainable, with climate-neutral production as the ultimate goal.”
UKRAINE
“Our priority is first and foremost the safety of our employees. This is why we temporarily closed the two production sites of our Ukrainian joint venture. Our local team has once again picked up work to keep the food supply going. The office in Kiev however remains closed. Our operating activities in Russia had already been reduced to a minimum which meant that the Russian offensive did not have a significant impact on Agrifirm. Last year we intensively worked together with our suppliers on the responsible procurement of corn. The project had entered its final phase and produced positive (interim) results. Unfortunately, it was halted due to the war.”
