According to Marel Food Systems the market for food processing machinery is improving but more slowly than expected with most growth seen in the poultry and fish sectors. It is also said that the credit for large-scale projects remains difficult to secure in many areas, including North America ands some parts of Eastern Europe, which is causing delays for some of these major contracts. But Marel said there had been a “noticeable improvement” in the sale of medium-term developments with a “substantial increase in the number of projects in the pipeline”.
The company has registered its Q3 2009 results with consolidated revenues of €133m and a net profit of €0.9m – compared to €170m and €4.5m respectively in the same period last year. Marel CEO Theo Hoen informed that he was pleased with the operating results and that the company remained “cost conscious in view of the slow pace of the recovery”.
The firm explained that orders had only dropped 4 per cent during the traditionally quiet summer period but cautioned that the number of new contracts could be in flux in coming quarters “due to business cycle fluctuations and the timing of large projects”. There was increased activity across the entire food sector with standout growth in the poultry segment – which had rebounded well.
Marel told that in the fish industry it declared sales were close to target, with Norway being its largest market by far. Sales in countries such as Canada and Lithuania are exceeding expectations while other markets are “lagging”.
