CEO Koen Slippens: ‘In the first quarter of 2022, the recovery of our sales markets in the Netherlands and Belgium continued to gain traction. In the subsequent quarters, our customers were happily operating at full capacity again as consumers resurfaced to enjoy their ‘newly regained freedom’ and flocked in droves to visit cafés, bars and restaurants, amusement parks and events.
Two years of COVID-19 led to a major disruption in the global supply chain, and that effect was compounded by the impact of the war in Ukraine. Like the rest of the market, we had to cope with shortages and scarcity in part of our product range. Where possible, we dealt with this problem by increasing our buffer inventories. Happily, we saw some improvement towards the end of the year.
The year was also characterised by scarcity in the labour market and bottlenecks in transport. In contrast to many sectors, such as public transport, aviation, healthcare and also the hospitality industry, which were forced by necessity to downsize, we chose to maintain maximum service continuity. We managed to achieve a very reasonable level of quality in our deliveries by using couriers and foreign drivers, but at a high cost.
Inflation increased by large increments throughout 2022. We were forced to absorb part of these costs, which impacted our bottom line, but to some extent the price increases were offset by efficiency improvements or passed on in our selling prices to our customers. Although most of our customers choose to pass on those price rises in their own prices to consumers, that seems to have had little impact on sales volumes in 2022, which remained very strong.
Despite all the challenges that 2022 presented, we are delighted with the recovery of the markets in which we operate and the gains we have made in market share. Our customers were able to focus on running their businesses profitably again and our employees showed their usual excellence by expertly helping our customers wherever possible. So, thankfully, we are again Moving forward together!'
Read more in the press release:
Press conference / Analyst meeting
Comments on the annual figures at a press conference and an analyst meeting.
11:00 AM: Press conference
01:30 PM: Analyst meeting
Sligro Amsterdam, Van der Madeweg 39
Presentation, 2022 annual figures
In our trading update of 20 April 2023, we will go into developments in the first quarter of 2023 in greater detail, and we will publish our interim figures on 20 July 2023.
Would you like to receive press releases of Sligro Food Group in your mailbox? Please sent an e-mail with your name, address and e-mail to Charissa Kleij: ckleij@sligro.nl