Operating profits increase by 24% at Valeo Foods as revenues top €1.62bn

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Gordon Deegan Operating profits at the Dublin headquartered food producer behind well-known brands such as Jacob’s, Rowse Honey, Kelkin and Odlums this year increased by 24% to €85.3m.

Recently filed accounts by Valeo Foods UC show that operating profits increased as revenues rose by 6% from €1.52bn to €1.62bn in the 12 months to the end of March 31st 2025.

In their report, the directors state that "Valeo delivered another year of successful top line growth, significant growth in operating profit before exceptional items and cash generation”.

They state that “this mainly traces to further recovery of our UK business, strong growth in Italy and Canada, management initiatives to improve procurement and productivity and the successful acquisition of three companies across Europe and North America in line with the group strategy.

The group recorded a pre-tax loss of €28.75m after net finance costs of €114.1m are taken into account. Exceptional costs totalled €17.7m.

The pre-tax loss of €28.75m was down 3% on the €29.6m pre-tax loss for the prior year.

The directors state that while operating profit increased year on year, “the loss before tax has increased largely due to finance costs”.

Valeo Foods operates 80 consumer food brands and is market leaders in wafers, cakes and biscuits, confectionery (sugar and chocolate), naturally sweet (maple and honey), savoury snacks and Ireland ambient foods.

Since Valeo Foods formed in 2010, it has completed over 20 targeted acquisitions across the UK, Ireland, Europe and North America, The group’s Ireland revenues decreased by 10% from €340.68m to €307.87m while the UK remained the group’s largest market as revenues increased marginally from €644.4m to €647.5m.

The group’s European business showed the strongest growth rising by 34% from €378.04m to €507.76m.

Numbers employed at the expanding Valeo Foods this year increased by 664 from 4,546 to 5,210 as staff costs rose from €193.4m to €272.76m.

The staff costs included severance payments of €2.97m Directors’ pay increased from €1.1m to €1.27m.

The accounts disclose on January 8th 2025, Valeo paid out €297.43m for Slovakian based IDC Holding and three subsidiaries which produce wafer biscuits primarily for markets throughout Eastern Europe.

The deal comprised cash of €187m and deferred cash of €110.4m.

The directors state that “this acquisition expands the Group’s presence throughout Europe and introduces new customers to which the Group can cross sell its existing product range”.

The accounts further disclose that Valeo paid out €19.33m in cash for Italian croissant and pannettone manufacturer, Dal Colle in June 2024.

The main components of the group's exceptional cost of €17.7m were €13.04m in business acquisition costs, restructuring costs of €9.25m off-set by a €8.7m ‘gain on bargain purchase’.

Shareholder funds increased to €287.3m following the group’s share premium account rising from €104.93m to €347.76m.

The group’s cash funds increased from €62.03m to €117.88m.