Arla Foods has forecast a decline in a closely-watched volume metric in 2025 after a year of growth.
The dairy group saw revenues and profits increase in 2024 and also reported “strategic branded volume driven revenue growth” of 3.7% for the year.
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In 2024, Arla’s revenues reached €13.8bn ($14.39bn), a rise on the €13.7bn generated a year earlier.
The co-op’s net profit stood at €401m, up from the €380m recorded in 2023.
Providing guidance for 2025, Arla has projected its revenue will range between €14.5bn and €15.3bn, “driven by the high dairy price level”, the company said.
However, the Lurpak owner said those prices and “consumer uncertainty” are expected to put pressure on its branded, volume-driven, revenue growth.
Arla projects that metric will be down 1-2%, although the group underlined it is “subject to the balance of supply and demand dynamics throughout the year”.
It is forecasting a “profit share” within its target of 2.8% to 3.2%. In 2024, that came in at 2.9%.
The company also projected “efficiencies” for 2025 of €90-110m. In 2024, Arla generated €131m.
Asked by Just Food if Arla has plans to cut jobs or close factories, a spokesperson said: “We don’t have any plans for this but, even if we did, we couldn’t comment on it here. Efficiencies are not equal to job cuts or factory closes, which is important to remember.”
In July, Arla set out plans to cease operations at one of its UK creameries after it failed to find a suitable buyer for the site.
A month earlier, the company said it would up investment in the UK and the spending would take the company’s total investment there in 2024 to more than £300m ($377.6m).
In October, Arla made a non-binding offer to snap up a majority stake in Egyptian food-and-beverage company Arabian Food Industries, known as Domty.
