Carbery Group shows resilience and growth throughout 2020 despite pandemic
Carbery Group Chairman, TJ Sullivan, CFO, Colm Leen, CEO, Jason Hawkins and COO, John Holland, mark the launch of the Group’s new brand, Carbery Dairy, developed to market new cheese products following a €78m expansion project in their West Cork HQ, completed late last year Photo: Don MacMonagle
Carbery Group has shown resilience and growth in 2020 despite disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to its annual report which was launched this week.
Revenue was up 5.8% to €459.5m across the Group and 596m litres of milk were processed at Carbery’s Ballineen site - an increase of 5% in milk volume, supplied by 1,215 local farmer shareholders.
During 2020, the Group also completed its €78m cheese diversification plant and opened up new markets in Asia.
Continued focus on achieving ambitious sustainability targets across the Group saw emissions intensity reduced by 4.8% as it continues to work in partnership with farmers to reduce carbon footprint on farms.
Group earnings increased by 1% to €44.9m compared to €44.3m in 2019 while a decrease in operating profit to €28.3m - €30.2m in 2019 - reflected a year-on-year decrease of 6.2%.
Carbery Group CEO Jason Hawkins said that despite Covid-19 related delays, the expansion project was completed and the new plant is producing mozzarella.
“The resilience of our business performance in a challenging year has given us increased confidence in the investment and diversification strategies we have pursued over the last few years,” he added.
“With the challenges of a potential hard Brexit behind us, and our new plant online, as well as the investments we continue to make in our value-added Taste and Nutrition business segments, I’m confident that we will continue to generate value for the farmers of West Cork.
“Our focus in terms of how we operate continues to be on sustainability – both in the traditional sense of creating a resilient business, but also in working with key partners in our community, in the economy and with our farmers to build a future that will protect our resources for future generations and create opportunities for them.”
Carbery’s dairy business had a strong and resilient performance throughout 2020 to, what the company describes as, “the backdrop of volatile and rapidly shifting markets”.
The new mozzarella plant, which was commissioned in late 2020, saw the first commercial orders sent to the UK, South Korea, China and Europe.
Cheddar demand remained strong throughout the pandemic and 55,000t of cheese was produced in 2020.
Countering the decline of food service, retail demand was very strong throughout the pandemic with an increased demand for cheddar and in particular for high-quality cheddars which Carbery specialises in producing.
Carbery Group’s Carbery Cracker product had a brand refresh and research to accompany that campaign showed that 72% of consumers surveyed would prefer to buy Irish cheese.
TJ Sullivan, Chairman of Carbery Group, said that while the positive business results reflected the Group’s strong position, “other factors were also at play”.
“The diverse nature of our business has helped us weather what 2020 and Covid-19 brought,” added Mr Sullivan.
“We also have to credit the exceptional performance of our employees in Ballineen and around the world who, throughout very stressful conditions globally, remained committed, kept themselves and each other safe, and continued to deliver for our customers.
“I also want to credit our farmers who continued the supply of our milk at the highest quality throughout the stresses of the year.
“The performance of each of our businesses allowed us to continue to maximise the returns paid to our suppliers though our milk price, and we supported the price from our stability fund when the markets took a hit due to Covid.”
Meanwhile, Asia continues to be a focus region for the Nutrition business and the Taste Business performed strongly in 2020, despite the multiple challenges that the year presented.
The Group continued to work towards a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2035 across all sites through decarbonising existing energy sources.
Carbery conducted a group-wide materiality assessment to provide strategic input to guide sustainability activities.
Emissions intensity across the Group reduced by 4.8% between 2019 and 2020 - more product is being made, but it has less embedded carbon. In 2020, water use per unit of production across the Group was reduced by 2.8%.
The Farm Zero C project, launched in 2020, is a comprehensive effort to find ways to decarbonise on-farm dairy emissions.
The project brings together a group of academic and industry experts in a world-first attempt to come up with a farm-level solution for a global problem.
The project is looking at the potential for carbon trading to be integrated within a low emission farm model - Shinagh Farm, owned by the four West Cork Co-ops of Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, is the site of the project.
Carbery Group is owned by four Irish co-operatives, Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, and employs almost 800 people, with 1,215 local farmer suppliers.
The company operates from 10 locations including Ireland, the UK, the USA, Brazil, Italy, Indonesia and Thailand and supplies more than 50 countries worldwide.
Carbery was established in 1965 and remains one of Ireland’s leading producers of award-winning cheeses for the industrial, foodservice and retail sectors.
The company produces a wide range of cheese, including the Dubliner brand, Carbery Cracker, cheddar, reduced fat cheeses and Red Leicester. Ballineen is the largest single cheese-producing facility in Ireland, producing almost 25% of Ireland’s annual cheese output.
Through a series of acquisitions in the UK, the USA, Europe, South America and Asia, Carbery has successfully built Synergy, its international flavours business.
Its nutrition business provides a comprehensive range of advanced whey proteins for the infant, sport, clinical nutrition, and mainstream food and beverage markets.
The market-leading Optipep® whey protein hydrolysate range delivers scientifically supported health and performance benefits, and is suitable for use in a wide variety of applications.
