The poultry company LDC continued its price reductions on its poultry division in the third quarter of its 2023-2024 financial year and is now targeting growth in its sales volume after a series of acquisitions, while maintaining its profitability objectives. The group, present in the poultry (Loué, Le Gaulois, Maître Coq), eggs (Matines), and catering (Marie) departments, recorded a turnover of 1.53 billion euros, an increase of 2. 6% in the third quarter (September 1-November 30, 2023) compared to the same quarter of 2022, according to a press release.
“In an environment marked by persistent tensions on purchasing power”, LDC has “continued to reduce prices in the poultry division in relation to the drop in the price of raw materials”, indicates the family group based in Sarthe, become one of the European leaders in poultry, with 23,400 employees. He did not quantify this reduction in prices. LDC’s poultry division, which represents the majority of the group’s turnover, saw its sales increase by 3.5% in the third quarter, to 1.1149 billion euros.
In the space of two years, the prices of its poultry products had increased by more than 30% on the grounds that it was necessary to pass on the soaring cost of animal feed in the wake of the war in Ukraine. The drop in prices, associated with “promotional efforts”, aims to stimulate a dynamic of reviving growth in volume, down 1.1% over the first nine months of the 2023-2024 financial year. Over this period, turnover increased by 7.7%.
After the acquisitions of the Matines egg brand and the Ovoteam company (eggs intended for restaurateurs and industrialists) – 62 million additional turnover for LDC – the group announces that of a factory belonging to Agromousquetaires, Les Délices of St Léonard, which notably manufactures pizzas with a turnover of around 50 million euros. Internationally, despite stable volumes (0.5%), turnover is down almost 8%, a development that LDC explains in particular by downward price adjustments on certain product families. (ducks, geese, chickens).
“In view of the progress of the end-of-year holidays generally in line with expectations, the group confirms its ambition to exceed 6 billion euros in turnover” over the annual financial year, and its objective of exceeding 7 billion euros within five years. It had achieved 5.8 billion euros in turnover during the 2022/2023 financial year.