HELSINKI, Finland – Year 2021 will go down in history as the best Paulig year to date. The company’s operating profit continued to grow and revenue increased by 5.1 per cent with a positive impact from sales growth in all main categories: coffee, Tex Mex, and spices. Out-of-Home sales are also gradually recovering, and Paulig is well-equipped to further accelerate sales and international growth.
Paulig: Key figures 2021
- Paulig’s revenue was EUR 966.3 million (919.5)
- Of the total revenue, 54 (53) per cent came from the Nordic countries and 46 (47) per cent from other countries
- Operating profit was EUR 95.3 million (88.3), which was 9.9 per cent of revenue (9.6)
“Paulig’s performance in 2021 was excellent. This financial result, and the strides we have made in sustainability, show that our growth strategy and operating model work even in a highly volatile business environment. The year was impacted by unprecedented increases in the prices of raw materials and challenges in global supply chains, but we succeeded in responding to these changes. Paulig is well-equipped to further accelerate sales and international growth. In 2022, our revenue is expected to exceed one billion euros”, states Rolf Ladau, CEO of Paulig.
“The year 2022 has started well with the acquisition of Liven that was followed by the sales of the Gold&Green brand, intellectual property and R&D function. The war in Ukraine increases overall uncertainty in the world economy. This will result in increases in raw material and energy prices, which will affect Paulig’s business this year. However, the effects of Paulig’s withdrawal from Russia will be limited on a group level as Business Area East, consisting of Russia and the surrounding countries, only accounts for approximately 5 per cent of our revenue”, Ladau says.
Growth in Tex Mex and Coffee categories
Paulig took significant steps in its growth strategy and ambition to become one of the fastest-growing and profitable food and beverage companies in Europe.
In Tex Mex, sales grew by 3.6 per cent in 2021. Paulig has previously announced a EUR 45 million investment in a new tortilla production facility in Roeselare, Belgium. The project is progressing according to plan and the new factory is set to begin operations in Q2. Together with the recent acquisition of Liven, it will strengthen Paulig’s position as the market leader in Tex Mex in Europe as well as support growth in the snacking category. Liven’s portfolio of snacks and Tex Mex products is one of the broadest in Europe.
In the coffee category, Paulig continued to innovate new variants and new packaging types as well as to drive the premiumisation of certain brands. Paulig’s coffee sales grew by 8.6 per cent. While we saw unprecedented increases in global green coffee prices and subsequent increases in retail sales prices, Paulig was able to gain volume share. Out-of-Home sales are gradually recovering from COVID restrictions.
Making headway in sustainability
In 2021, Paulig also made significant progress in its ambitious sustainability targets, which are based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The company’s target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its value chain by 50 percent by the year 2030 from the 2018 baseline. In 2020, the company set a target to reduce its green house gas emissions from its own operations by 80 percent by 2030.
Paulig made headway in many fronts in 2021. The company has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions of its own operations by 18 per cent, and in early 2022, as many as six out of ten Paulig sites were CarbonNeutral® certified. The company’s internal incentive system was also linked with the goal of achieving carbon-neutral operations. Paulig formed a sustainable farming partnership with the Swedish agricultural cooperative Lantmännen. The wheat flour used for Paulig Santa Maria tortillas produced in Sweden will hold up to 30 per cent less GHG emissions per unit of volume
Paulig Nutrition KPI Framework was established to define what Paulig means by a product enabling health for people. The framework is utilised to evaluate Paulig’s product portfolio and guide focus areas for product development.
Paulig’s annual report, including financial statements and the sustainability report, will be published in April.
