h produce firm Fyffes has reported adjusted pre-tax profits of €15.8 million for the first three months of the year, up 18.4% on the same time last year. The multinational company, which will merge with American distributor Chiquita over the coming months, said the strong performance of the category was driven by organic volume growth, while selling prices were also slightly higher.
Revenues for the three month period rose by 3.4% to €306.5 million from €296.5 million.
Fyffes said the banana business was “satisfactory” for the period, although profits were slightly down with lower average selling prices, particularly in continental Europe.
“Fyffes has continued to successfully grow its banana volumes organically in the year to date, with both new and existing customers,” said chairman David McCann.
Fyffes has delivered a strong result in the first quarter of 2014. Adjusted EBITA was 14.9% higher at €16m, including a very good performance in the melon category," he added.
Profits were down slightly for pineapples as well, but a lower U.S. dollar was able to help offset part of the trend of rising fruit costs for both these items.
