Schwälbchen Molkerei AG achieved promising results in 2018
Although 2018 started weakly for Schwälbchen Molkerei AG, with low prices notably reducing margins, the company’s product structure enabled the dairy to achieve a good business results for the year.
Milk processing volume increased by 4.5% to 137,600 tonnes. The fall in price of drinking milk, cottage cheese and cream and the general weaker sales in these product groups reduced both the price and the volume of sales.
On the other hand, Schwälbchen AG was able to take advantage of the peak summer and dynamically increase its value in the coffee, ayran and sour milk products sectors. In total, the company’s revenues increased by 3.9% to €98.2 million in 2018.
At Harzmolkerei GmbH, sales of €5.3 million were lower than in the previous year.
In the bulk consumer trading segment, Schwälbchen Frischdienst GmbH, partially consolidated with Frischdienst Südwest GmbH, was able to increase sales by 2.9% to €99.2 million; this in an environment of fierce competition and structural change.
Consolidated total sales of the Schwälbchen Group increased by 3.8% to €186.3 million. The investments had a lower volume totaling €2.0 million.
Across the group, consolidated earnings for the year totalled €3.32 million.
The German milk market started 2019 under more balanced market conditions compared to the previous year. The volatility of the milk market remains, as does the difference in utilisation between fat and proteins.
For all manufacturers of drinking milk and fresh products – and thus also for Schwälbchen – 2019 points at a weak demand for drinking milk, cream and quark. In addition, the rising costs of transportation, energy, packaging and disposal are having an impact, making it increasingly difficult for the German dairy industry to obtain cost-covering sales prices for drinking milk, cream and quark.
The company therefore continues to pursue its differentiation strategy with Green Line, coffee beverage Caffreddo and ethnic brand Körfez, in order to remain competitive in trade and preferable among consumers.
In 2019 Schwälbchen Frischdienst GmbH will continue to live in the difficult, but dynamic competitive environment of the out-of-home market, so there’s no time to relax for the industry or the customer.
But Frischdienst GmbH and Frischdienst Südwest GmbH, as delivery specialists, are well prepared for these external challenges with customer, product range and logistics expertise as well as high-performance purchasing and operating structures.
