Swiss food firm Huegli has posted a jump in sales for 2013, boosted by the contribution of its Vogeley’s acquisition.
Huegli said sales in the year to end-December rose 13.1% to CHF367m (US$410m).
Excluding Vogeley’s sales activities, organic growth stood at 2.4%. The first half of the year was weaker for Huegli which posted organic sales of -0.2%. It countered this in the second half of the year where sales increased by 5%.
The German market proved particularly strong for Huegli. Switzerland and the rest of Europe also showed positive sales growth, benefiting from good sales development in the UK. However sales in Eastern Europe took a tumble of 6.8%.
While organic sales were up across its food service, brand solutions and consumer brands sectors, Huegli’s private label and food industry units suffered.
However CEO Thomas Bodenmann remained positive on the outlook for the future.
“We will continue implementing our growth strategy. We thereby aim to grow 5% each year in the medium-term, achieving growth both organically and through further acquisitions. In addition, we will focus on products with a high margin and improve the profit situation on the whole by the advancement of processes and an efficient cost management.”

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By GlobalDataFor the full-year, Huegli said that it expects EBIT to rise by more than 13%.
Based on slow economic growth in Europe, Huegli forecast “moderate organic sales growth” during 2014.