The blinis and spreadables business is a small but important pillar of Alfesca’s business, and Alfesca is already a strong market leader in France, Belgium and Luxembourg through its subsidiaries, Blini and Le Traiteur Grec (LTG).

Blini is active on three segments of the French market, which include blinis, taramasalata and vegetable dips and spreads. Blini is a strong market leader in France and Benelux under the Blini brand, with a market share of 30%, and a leader in private-label brands.

In 2007, Alfesca agreed to acquire Le Traiteur Grec (LTG), France’s leading vegetable- spreadables business. The businesses of LTG and Blini are highly complementary and together they are expected to provide Alfesca with category-leading position in the vegetable-spreadables sector.

Market trends

About 70% of Blini’s sales are under the brands Blini and Labeyrie, and about 30% under private labels. Blini is the undisputed leader of two market segments, blinis and taramas, and has a wide portfolio of private-label products.

LTG’s main markets are vegetable spreadables (18% market share); blinibreads (5% market share) and taramasalata (4% market share). LTG’s sales relate solely to branded products, which are sold on the French market and mainly through hyper- and supermarkets, similarly to Blini.

After having been one of Alfesca’s fastest growing pillars over recent years, the blinis and spreadables markets have experienced a strong consumer slow-down, mainly during 2008. In a period of difficult consumer trends, retailers have focused their promotional offers on their core markets. Less promotional emphasis is given to fashionable markets, which leads to a drop in sales in these products. Additionally, consumers have, in response to their loss of buying power, temporarily turned their purchases towards other product categories which are either more affordable or more festive. As a result, the markets have only grown very little in the past year and experienced a decline in the last months of the financial year.

Alfesca is optimistic about the recovery of these markets, both through the new and innovative concepts that it is about to launch, and through recovery of the market towards the end of the year, a very favourable period for these products.

Outlook

The return to growth for this pillar, both for the market place and Alfesca itself, will be driven by innovation. Alfesca has a portfolio of innovative new products ready to be launched in the course of this financial year, in each market segment: blinis, taramasalata and vegetable-based spreadables. There are also high expectations for the new market segment that Alfesca is turning to, such as the dips, where the first product was launched in the spring. But the company has greater ambitions and would like to stretch its brands over one or two additional market segments, providing consumers with convenient and delicious products that require minimal preparation. Prices of raw materials will remain a concern but the company expects to offset a large part of the deviation through product re-engineering and tariff increases. This pillar, although currently small, is strategic as a platform for the development of the company. Possible bolt-on acquisitions to develop Alfesca’s activities are being actively considered.