ALWF Winfarm

PRESS RELEASE Loudéac, 1 February 2024

2023 revenue of €137.4m, up 5%

Continued market share gains against a backdrop of falling prices

WINFARM (ISIN: FR0014000P11 - ticker: ALWF), the number-one French distance seller of goods and solutions and provider of advisory and other services for the farming and breeding industry, today reported its revenue for financial year 2023.

Farming Supplies: growth of 7.1% in 2023

The Farming Supplies business (91% of revenue at 31 December 2023), marketed under the Vital Concept brand, posted revenue of €125.1m in 2023, up 7.1%.

Sales in 2023 were driven by:

• the acquisition of Kabelis in the Landscaping and Green Spaces business (consolidated since August 2022), which recorded revenue of nearly €17.0m at the end of December 2023;
• a return to sustained momentum in the equestrian market at the end of the year, with growth of 4% over the full year;
• the confirmed robust performance of BTN de Haas, acquired in the Netherlands in July 2021.

Given the negative price effect combined with an unfavourable calendar (4 fewer days invoiced than in 2022), WINFARM successfully maintained a satisfactory level of business activity with a change in the organic scope, excluding the contribution of Kabelis, which posted a limited decline of 2.4%. This performance should also be seen in the light of particularly unfavourable weather conditions in the fourth quarter that weighed on order numbers, as well as the Group’s determination to safeguard its gross margin by limiting price concessions.

Farming Production: Group export revenue adversely affected by the geopolitical environment

The Farming Production business (7% of revenue at 31 December 2023), marketed under the Alphatech brand, generated revenue of €10.0m in 2023, down 18.2%.

Despite a few signs of a recovery in the second half of the year, business activity in the Middle East (Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE), accounting for 17% of Farming Production revenue, remained weak in FY 2023 (compared with 25% in N-1). In an already difficult context marked by the unavailability of foreign currencies for export in the first half of the year, the difficulties in the Red Sea in the fourth quarter slowed sales momentum in the region by postponing certain orders to 2024 owing to the extension of their delivery times.

“Other activities”, which include consulting and training services, marketed under the Agritech brand, and the operating activities of the Bel-Orient pilot farm increased revenue by over 25%.

Cash position at end-December 2023

Given Kabelis’ prospects in the Green Spaces segment, the Group decided to immediately buy back 30% of the remaining capital in mid-December. At the end of FY 2023, WINFARM’s cash position amounted to €7m, reflecting the renewed confidence of its banking partners with the granting of long-term financing in addition to the financing obtained in the third quarter.

EBITDA margin improvement targets maintained in H2 2023 

The financial discipline measures implemented by the Group in the first half of 2023, combined with the gross margin management measures initiated at the end of the financial year, should now enable the Group to gradually improve its EBITDA margin after a low point reached at the end of June 2023.

Au Pré!: signature of the first contracts

After the launch in September of “Au Pré!”, an innovative concept to enhance dairy production for a network of independent farmers based on an initial proprietary industrial processing facility located at the Group’s Bel Orient pilot farm, WINFARM is pleased to announce the signing of initial contracts with central kitchens supplying schools, hospitals and nursing homes.

WINFARM is also in advanced discussions with numerous delicatessens and bakeries, which have shown substantial interest in featuring Au Pré! brand products in their stores with a view to proposing them to their customers.

2024: focus on returning to organic growth and improving EBITDA margin

Through the initiatives taken in 2023 to lower the profitability threshold in connection with the adaptation of the expense structure, WINFARM in 2024 will be focusing primarily on boosting business activity and improving its results.

Next release:2023 annual results, on 28 March 2024 after the market closes.

About WINFARM

Founded in Loudéac, in the heart of Brittany, at the beginning of the 1990s, the Winfarm group is today the leading French player offering the agricultural, livestock, horse-breeding and landscape markets a range of consultancy, service and distance selling products and global, unique and integrated solutions to help them meet the new technological, economic, environmental and social challenges of the new generation of agriculture.

With a vast catalogue of more than 35,000 product references (seeds, phytosanitary, harvesting products, etc.), two-thirds of which are marketed under own brands, WINFARM has more than 45,000 customers in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

For more information about the company: www.winfarm-group.com

Contacts :

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