The global milk giant Lactalis, which has remained a family business since its creation in 1933 in Laval, announced Thursday that it has exceeded 28 billion euros in turnover in 2022, dethroning Danone from the chair of French leader in the food industry. The group behind President camemberts, Galbani mozzarella, Leerdammer cheese with holes or even Parmalat milk, thus joins the world’s top 10 in the food industry.
The other French behemoth Danone, now eleventh globally, generated nearly 27.7 billion in turnover in 2022. Nestlé, the world number one, exceeds 95 billion euros in turnover. Lactalis’ activity grew strongly last year (28.4%) to 28.3 billion euros, driven by the increase in the selling price of its products but also inflated by its recent acquisitions – in particular a part of the Kraft brand cheeses (excluding Philadelphia), popular in North America, and Leerdammer.
At the same time, its profitability fell, with a net profit of 384 million euros (-14% over one year), for lack of being able to fully pass on “the high inflation of our costs” (milk, packaging , energy, etc.), said group boss Emmanuel Besnier at a press conference in Parma, Italy, Lactalis’ fourth largest market behind France, the United States and Canada.
The Besnier company, which became Lactalis in 1999, has come a long way since the 35 camemberts produced on the first day in the Laval cheese dairy by the founder André Besnier. The unlisted company became a global dairy giant through acquisitions, first in France in the 1970s and 1980s, then internationally.
In 2022, Lactalis transformed 22.6 billion liters of milk into cheese, yoghurt, butter, cream… And its turnover has more than quintupled since 2000, the year in which Emmanuel Besnier, the grandson of ‘André, took the controls. Lactalis now has 270 production sites in 51 countries and 85,000 employees. Its products are marketed in 150 countries.
