It was a good year for Marel hf.
The Iceland-based company — a leading processing equipment developer and manufacturer and services provider for the seafood and meat industries — watched its revenues increase 15 percent to EUR 668 million in 2011. Its gross profit jumped 11.7 percent to EUR 247.3 million last year, while its operating income, or EBIT, grew 14 percent to EUR 73.2 million.
“It was a very good year for Marel, with pure organic growth of 15 percent compared to 2010. The year ended on a high note with record revenues in the fourth quarter and an operating profit at the upper end of our target range of 10 to 12 percent return on sales. The strength of the order book gives us confidence heading into 2012,” said Marel CEO Theo Hoen.
“The growth between years can be attributed to two key factors,” he continued. “We continue to bring innovative new products to market that provide added value for our customers, such as the new MS 2730 salmon filleting system and ModularOven. And we are expanding geographically and strengthening the effectiveness of our sales and service network. The most recent development in that area is the establishment of new offices in Mexico and India.
“We continue to strive for operational excellence across the whole range of our activities. We made good progress in 2011 in improving operating leverage by decreasing the relative amount of overhead costs. Working capital, manufacturing and procurement processes have all been improved. The experience of the past few years shows that we have the ability and committed employees to take our company further and to realize our future ambitions.”
As for seafood, Marel reported that the fourth quarter was an active period for the company in all segments of the fish processing industry, including whitefish and salmon. Marel’s processing flow lines for farmed whitefish species such as tilapia have been well received by the market, including in Asia and Central America. In salmon, large and complex grading systems for whole salmon from Marel have been in high demand in Norway, thanks to the integration with Marel’s Innova production management software. Customers have been impressed with the full traceability, improved yield and logistics management that Innova provides, according to Marel.
