Our Group closed a very positive first quarter in terms of sales, thanks to the good performance of our brands, which remain strong in all their markets. After putting behind us the most difficult moments of the pandemic, consumers are once again including our higher value-added products in their shopping baskets.

Ebro posted a net turnover of €697.2 million. The comparison with last year is distorted by the extraordinary peaks in demand recorded by the Group following the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. Net Profit was up 10.6% to €52.8 million, and EBITDA-A was €94.1, very similar to the previous year.

We have successfully completed the divestment in the North American dry pasta business, closing the deals begun at the end of 2020, and the sale of the Ronzoni brand and Winchester plant. The Garofalo and Tilda businesses remain on track, stepping up their expansion into other markets.

It has been a complicated quarter due to higher costs in freight, energy and agricultural and auxiliary raw materials, among others, within a more depressed socioeconomic context. However, the solvency of our management, the high degree of commitment of our professionals and our business consistency have allowed us to effectively face this complex situation and present these good results.

You can read the complete news about the results here

The biotech startup Encapsulae has been the winner of the first edition of the open innovation program Ebro Talent: Caring For Innovation for its nanoencapsulation project to reduce additives in food and extend its shelf life. This is an entrepreneurial initiative created in 2018 by CSIC researchers.

The Ebro Talent program was launched by Ebro Foods and Loyola University to promote innovative ideas and drive new lines of research that improve efficiency and sustainability in the food sector. Initially, 40 projects were presented to solve these challenges, from which 11 were selected to start the training and mentoring program.

The process culminated recently at Ebro Day, an event where the finalist entrepreneurs presented their projects and received the awards for their innovative ideas.  Other award-winning initiatives were Cube Technology, for the creation of a platform to promote healthy lifestyle habits; and Entorno Agroindustrial, a project that allies with insects to produce high value-added raw materials.

Blanca Hernández, President of the Ebro Foods Foundation, thanked the participating entrepreneurs for their commitment and participation: “Ebro Talent is not just another innovation program; it is an initiative in which the university, the company and the entrepreneurial universe come together, the three actors needed to promote entrepreneurship and disruptive innovation in the sustainability of the food industry. I would like to warmly thank all the participants for the extraordinary response to our call and for the quality of all the initiatives presented”.

The program proposed a series of challenges in four areas: “Responsible production and efficiency”, “Environment and sustainability”, “Healthy food and food quality” and “New models and responsible consumption in a post-covid-19 scenario”.

Other proposals presented were Agrosingularity, an idea that values waste from the vegetable industry to use it as raw material; Aldous Bio, a young company that seeks consumers who respect the planet to offer them products made with the highest quality ingredients while preserving the environment; Oscillum, a biotech initiative that has created plastic labels that, in contact with fresh food, indicate the state of decomposition of these; Spherag, a management tool for the farmer that combines hardware and software and iCommunity, a platform that works under a BaaS (Blockchain as a service) model and that allows to provide transparency and security to the food chain.

2020 has been a complex and different year for everyone. The pandemic has confronted us with difficult situations and has contributed to increasing inequality. Against this backdrop, we wanted to be closer than ever to people by supporting numerous social initiatives.

In an extremely complex year due to the emergence of COVID-19, the Group reacted in an extraordinary manner, completing the best year in our history and achieving record figures: €3,237 million in revenues (+15.1%), EBITDA-A of €435 million (+27%) and net income of €192.4 million (+35.7%).

Apart from the financial figures, it has been a year of major milestones.

We have maintained employment, ensured the supply of our products on the shelves and guaranteed consumers’ peace of mind in times of great uncertainty.

We have invested €21 million to the development of measures aimed at combating the effects of the pandemic, and we have also supported our shareholders in the current difficult economic context by distributing a historic dividend of €386 million.

It has been an exceptional year thanks to the professionalism, commitment and effort of everyone.

You can read the complete news about the results here

In The Guadalquivir Marshes, 340,000 tons of rice are produced annually. Ebro, in alliance with Mars Food and Danone, has launched the Oryzonte project in this area, whose objectives are to optimize water consumption, reduce CO₂ emissions and promote biodiversity. 

Do you know that we give a second use to our surplus raw materials and reuse them, among other things, as beds or fees for livestock? In this video you can see some of the examples of how we apply the circular economy in Ebro.

One third of the food produced in the world is wasted. In this video we explain how we have joined this initiative to combat this problem and raise awareness in society.

Ebro has launched Ebro Talent Caring For Innovation, a program to promote innovative ideas that improve efficiency and sustainability in the food sector, and that help achieve the different SDG´s promoted by the UN within its 2030 Agenda.

The program, which begins on December 11, is aimed at university students, startups, research groups, spin-offs arising from academic institutions and entities that are promoting new lines of action in the field of food. Once the selection process is finished, a total of eleven candidates will participate in Ebro Talent and will be eligible for one of the proposed prizes.

The initiative focuses on four challenges linked to different Sustainable Development Goals linked to the food sector: responsible and efficient production, environment and sustainability, healthy eating and food quality, and new models and responsible consumption.

Our Group’s third-quarter has ended on an extremely positive note, with sales growing by 19.2-% to a cumulative total of €2,425.3 million for the year and A-EBITDA of €327.1 million, a 38-% increase over 2019.
 
Though there have been no lockdowns this quarter, the pandemic has still resulted in large peaks in demand from time to time. We have been able to deal with the situation successfully thanks to our organisation and production capacity, to careful decision-making, to a broad and diversified product line and supply chain, and above all to the professionalism and strong commitment of our employees.
 
These good results are also the outcome of having made the right strategic decisions, such as the Tilda acquisition, and the solid positioning of all our brands, with both our rice division and our pasta division gaining market share in most of the countries where we do business.
 
This upward trend has led us to forecast earnings on the order of between €3,150 and 3,200 million by year’s end, a testimonial to the strength and sustainability of our company.

Ebro Foods reaches agreement with Barilla Group for the sale of its dry pasta business in Canada

Ebro has approved the sale of its “Catelli” dry pasta busines in Canada to the Barilla Group, an Italian company initially established as a family business in 1877 that has over 8,000 employees worldwide. The business has been valued, for the purposes of the transaction, at 165 million Canadian dollars.

The Ebro Group will continue to have a strong presence in the Canadian market and will be concentrating its efforts and resources on the other brands it sells in Canada, Garofalo (dry pasta), Olivieri (fresh pasta and sauces), and Minute Rice and Tilda in the rice sector.

The sale is for the Catelli®, Lancia®, and Splendor® brands and the production plant in Montreal (Québec). Barilla is present in 100 countries, with 28 production plants and annual earnings of around €3,700 Million. Like Ebro, the company promotes healthy eating and sustainable growth, under the slogan “Good for you, good for the planet“.