Quorn brand owner Monde Nissin has posted another year of net losses for its meat-free division although sales showed signs of recovery.
Philippines-headquartered Monde Nissin did, however, report today (26 March) that its bottom-line losses in meat alternatives narrowed again in fiscal 2025, coming in at 304 million pesos ($5.1m) after tax versus 804m pesos a year earlier.
In the 2023 financial year, losses amounted to 966m pesos. Also absent in today’s numbers was any further impairment charges related to that part of publicly-listed Monde Nissin’s business.
A 6.8bn-peso impairment was booked last year on top of the 10.1bn pesos in fiscal 2023 and 20.5bn pesos in the prior 12 months.
CEO Henry Soesanto said today meat-free remains a “challenging category” but noted a “modest reversal of prior impairment losses, reflecting steady progress in our ongoing transformation”.
Sales for the category edged up 0.5% last year on a reported basis to 13.61bn pesos, with a more marked 5.3% improvement in the fourth quarter to 3.68bn pesos.
Fourth-quarter net losses after tax also shrank – 119m pesos versus a 149m-peso loss in the corresponding period of fiscal 2024.
It was a mixed bag for core EBITDA, which slumped 49.2% in the final three months of the year to 76m pesos. However, a significant rebound was reported for the full year, rising to 495m pesos from 12m pesos.
Gross margins for meat-free also improved over both periods although with puts and takes in the development.
Monde Nissin said the gains were “driven by transformation benefits, lower inventory, lower input costs, and targeted selling price increases, partially offset by the impact of lower production volumes”.
The margin rose 417 basis points for the year to 25.6% and 584 points in the fourth quarter to 27.4%.
Meanwhile, Monde Nissin’s Asia-Pacific Branded Food and Beverage (APAC BFB) division, consisting of products such as biscuits and noodles, also had a mixed performance last year.
Sales climbed 4.7% to 72.82bn pesos but core EBITDA fell 3.9% to 15.39bn pesos. Net income after tax dropped 5.6% to 10bn pesos.
Positive results were recorded for the fourth quarter. Sales rose 5.8% to 19.54bn pesos, while core EBITDA increased 7.4% to 3.95bn pesos. Net profit was up 5.6% at 2.62bn pesos.
The gross margin for the division declined 230 basis points for the year to 34.8% and was down 95 points in the quarter at 34.7%.
Soesanto said: “Our APAC BFB business delivered steady topline growth in the fourth quarter, supported by volume growth in biscuits and other categories, while noodle revenue improved by 3.4% sequentially in Q4.
“Although higher edible oil costs continued to put pressure on gross margins, our pricing actions and cost-saving initiatives, including reformulation, contributed to a modest, incremental sequential margin improvement.”
