The past business year was a year of contrasts for the Eckes-Granini Group GmbH a year full of contrasts. The second pandemic year pandemic year and customer conflicts in the food retail sector once again presented the company with challenges, while 2021 also marked the start of the largest transformation in the company’s history. Sales revenue decreased moderately from 873 million euros in fiscal 2020 to 856 million euros (- 1.9 %), while sales volumes also declined, falling by 38 million litres to 805 million litres (- 4.5 %). Germany and France were particularly affected by the decline in sales volumes. Here, differing views on price adjustments led in part to the discontinuation of supply relationships with partners in the food retail sector. As a result, Eckes-Granini posted EBIT of 57.2 million euros (previous year: 71.0 million euros). The decline of 13.8 million euros is attributable to the effects of the pandemic, customer conflicts in the food retail sector and significantly higher costs for raw and packaging materials compared to the previous year. Tim Berger, CEO of Eckes-Granini Group GmbH, looks back on the business year as follows: “Despite considerable challenges posed by Corona, lower sales volumes and massive cost inflation, we succeeded in gaining market share – especially in the Nordic and Baltic countries – and strengthening our position during the past business year. Overall, our sales grew in nine out of ten countries. We also performed well in our international business in European countries and outside Europe.”
Eckes-Granini remains market leader
While the market for fruit juices, nectars and fruit beverages (FJND) was still able to benefit from food stockpiling in 2020, it declined in both value (- 2.1 %) and volume (- 4.4 %) in the second pandemic year. In particular, there was less demand for ambient, non-refrigerated fruit drinks sold via retailers. Accordingly, the 2021 segment recorded a decline of 3.7 % in sales and 5.2 % in volume sales, thus performing somewhat weaker than the market as a whole. In this generally weaker market environment, Eckes-Granini recorded a 0.7 % decline in market share in terms of value (market share 12.2 %) and a 0.8 % decline in volume (market share 11.3 %). The good news is that brands continue to gain market share. The e-commerce segment also continues to grow strongly but is not included in these figures. Eckes-Granini was able to make significant gains here, growing by + 35 %.
Full focus on innovation, digitization, and sustainability
In the area of product innovations, the company got off to a flying start with the market launch of hohes C Super Shots in Germany and Joker Shots in France. The popular hohes C Super Shots are currently leading the two-digit growth of the shot category in Germany (+ 31.1 %). Since the past business year, the Eckes- Granini Group has also been investing heavily in new distribution channels and cooperative ventures, and growth and the acquisition of new customers in e-commerce are developing particularly promisingly.
The Eckes-Granini Group also scored points in sustainability in 2021. With the publication of the first Group-wide sustainability report and the implementation of numerous measures, Eckes-Granini took important steps toward a more sustainable orientation of its business activities last year. To reduce emissions in line with the latest climate science criteria and achieve its ambitious targets, Eckes-Granini has been working with the independent Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) since 2021.
Successfully heading for the future with a strong growth strategy
2021 marked the launch of the Eckes-Granini Group’s Strategy 2025 and thus the largest transformation in the company’s history. “The transformation in the FJND market will continue and requires new ways of thinking and working – also from us as ‘category thought leaders’,” says Tim Berger. “At the same time, our goals are clearly defined: In 2025, we want to generate one billion euros in net sales and achieve a market share of 15 % in Europe. We successfully laid the foundation for these ambitious goals in 2021 and are now building on them. In the past fiscal year, we succeeded in maintaining our market leadership position despite numer ous challenges and a difficult market environment, growing locally and driving for- ward key innovations. We have thus made a solid and motivated start to 2022.”
About the Eckes-Granini Group Eckes-Granini is the leading supplier of fruit juices and fruit beverages in Euro-pa. For the inde- pendent family-owned company headquartered in Nieder-Olm, Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate), the focus is on committed and competent employees, strong brands in the areas of juices, fruit beverages and smoothies, and a long-term strategic orientation with sustainable value creation. Today, Eckes-Granini operates mainly in Europe with its own national companies and strategic partners and generates annual sales of 856 million euros with a total of 1697 employees. The com- pany’s foundation is formed by the internationally renowned premium brands granini and Pago to- gether with strong national and regional brands for juices such as hohes C, Joker and God Morgon. Consumers in 80 countries worldwide and especially in Europe know and appreciate our fruit juices and the variety of fruit drinks.
PepsiCo, Inc. introduced pep+ (pep Positive), a strategic end-to-end transformation with sustainability at the center of how the company will create growth and value by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for the planet and people. pep+ will guide how PepsiCo will transform its business operations: from sourcing ingredients and making and selling its products in a more sustainable way, to leveraging its more than one billion connections with consumers each day to take sustainability mainstream and engage people to make choices that are better for themselves and the planet.
Ramon Laguarta (Photo: Amanda Taraska)
“pep+ is the future of our company – a fundamental transformation of what we do and how we do it to create growth and shared value with sustainability and human capital at the center. It reflects a new business reality, where consumers are becoming more interested in the future of the planet and society,” said Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s Chairman and CEO. “pep+ will change our brands and how they win in the market. For example, imagine Lay’s will start with a potato grown sustainably on a regenerative field, and then be cooked and delivered from a Net-Zero and Net Water Positive supply chain, sold in a bio-compostable bag, with the lowest sodium levels in the market. That’s a positive choice. That’s the best tasting, #1 potato chip of the future. That’s how pep+ will be better for people, for the planet, and for our business. Now, imagine the scale and impact when applied to all 23 of our billion-dollar brands.”
pep+ drives action and progress across three key pillars, bringing together a number of industry-leading 2030 goals under a comprehensive framework:
Positive Agriculture: PepsiCo is working to spread regenerative practices to restore the Earth across land equal to the company’s entire agricultural footprint (approximately 7 million acres), sustainably source key crops and ingredients, and improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in its agricultural supply chain.
Positive Value Chain: PepsiCo will help build a circular and inclusive value chain through actions to:
Achieve Net-Zero emissions by 2040;
Become Net Water Positive by 2030; and
Introduce more sustainable packaging into the value chain.
PepsiCo announced new goals to cut virgin plastic per serving by 50 % across its global food & beverage portfolio by 20301, using 50 % recycled content in its plastic packaging and scaling the SodaStream business globally, an innovative platform that almost entirely eliminates the need for beverage packaging, among other levers.
The company will also progress its more than $570 million diversity, equity and inclusion journey; and
introduced a new global workforce volunteering program, One Smile at a Time, to encourage, support and empower each one of its 291,000 employees to make positive impacts in their local communities.
Positive Choices: PepsiCo continues to evolve its portfolio of food & beverage products so that they are better for the planet and people, including by:
Incorporating more diverse ingredients in both new and existing food products that are better for the planet and/or deliver nutritional benefits, prioritizing chickpeas, plant-based proteins and whole grains;
Expanding its position in the nuts & seeds category, where PepsiCo is already the global branded leader, including leadership positions in Mexico, China and several Western European markets;
Accelerating its reduction of added sugars and sodium through the use of science-based targets across its portfolio and cooking its food offerings with healthier oils; and
Continuing to scale new business models that require little or no single-use packaging, including its global SodaStream business – an icon of a Positive Choice and the largest sparkling water brand in the world by volume. SodaStream, already sold in more than 40 countries, is bringing PepsiCo flavor options like Pepsi Zero Sugar, Lipton and bubly to 23 markets, and its new SodaStream Professional platform will expand into functional beverages and reach more than 10 additional markets by the end of 2022, part of the brand’s effort to help consumers avoid more than 200 billion plastic bottles by 2030.
“pep+ directly links the future of our business with the future of our planet, for the benefit of both – from how we source ingredients and make and sell our products; to how we inspire consumers through our iconic brands to make better choices for themselves and the planet; to how we support communities and improve livelihoods throughout our supply chain,” said Jim Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo. “Take SodaStream, for example. By rapidly expanding the SodaStream ecosystem, we are meeting the needs of consumers at home, away from home, and on-the-go. At the same time, we are also offering consumers positive choices that use less plastic, create fewer emissions, and are better for people. pep+ is our roadmap to create the food and drinks people love in a way that helps build the sustainable future we all must have.”
The company’s brands across its food & beverage portfolio are accelerating their efforts to realize PepsiCo’s sustainable packaging vision and leveraging their influence to educate consumers on recycling and the planetary impacts of their choices.
11 European markets are moving key Pepsi-branded2 products to 100 % rPET bottles by 2022. PepsiCo estimates that shifting to a 100 % rPET bottle will lower GHG emissions by approximately 30 % per bottle.
In the U.S., all Pepsi-branded products will be converted to 100 % rPET bottles by 2030, with Pepsi Zero Sugar beginning to be sold in 100 % rPET bottles by 2022. The brand is celebrating this important move to sustainable packaging with a new consumer-centric platform leveraging fall football and driving recycling awareness, education and advocacy, which are critical because rPET availability depends on consumers’ commitment to recycling.
PepsiCo has been investing in breakthrough food packaging technology and is now introducing a fully compostable bag made with plant-based materials. Starting with Off The Eaten Path, one of Frito-Lay’s plant-based brands, this industrially compostable packaging will be available to consumers in the U.S. at Whole Foods stores beginning this month. Notably, the company also announced today that it is willing to work with other companies to license the same technology at no cost given the importance of creating a circular food packaging system.
