Faced with a high debt, Orior contrasts

Faced with downward results and a high debt, the Orior food group will decide to get back to straightening. Therefore, Measures that risk leading to the abolition of 90 positions within the gray firm.

The Zurich group now wants to focus on the Swiss market and a selection of international activities. In addition, Management studies ‘all strategic options’ for its Belgian subsidiary Culinor Food Group, including a sale. Nevertheless, Management hopes to find a buyer by the first quarter of 2026, the director general Monika Friedli-Walser said on Thursday.

If no buyer is found, Culinor’s activities will be more closely integrated into the parent company. Therefore, The financial director Sacha Gerber did not want to articulate a sale price. Furthermore, but according to experts from the Cantonal Bank of Zurich, he could be between 50 and 100 million francs.

Culinor faced high debt, orior contrasts had been acquired in 2016. produced dishes prepared for retail and catering for several European countries, but not for Switzerland. Orior does not detail the sales of Culinor, but its international activities fell 4% to 94.5 million francs in the first half. According to Orior, the synergies targeted since the acquisition of Culinor ‘could not be made’.

The German Gesa, a subsidiary of the Biotta fruit juice manufacturer, must on the contrary be reinforced. Catering activities in European airports must also be developed and participation in the Italian manufacturer of consolidated Gaetarelli pasta.

Switzerland is not spared from restructuring measures. The gray charcuterie brand Albert Spiess. deemed ‘insufficiently profitable for some time’ and suffering from the rise in the price of meat, must be merged with its Ticino counterpart Rapelli.

Production in Schiers, in the canton of Graubünden, must be reduced and the Landquart store closed. This restructuring could result faced high debt, orior contrasts in the abolition of 90 of the 130 jobs in Schiers, warned the owner of Orior.

Coupled with real estate sales. the group intends to reduce in 18 months its debt in the amount in two -digit millions, without more precision. Currently, the debt of the company is at 173.3 million, a level deemed ‘unsatisfactory’ by the company. The results must be improved and the structure of the company undergo an slimming cure.

Adjusted perspectives

Zurich’s net turnover fell 2.9% over one year to 304.9 million francs in the first half, while the gross operating profit (EBITDA) dropped from 28.7% to 16.3 million. The related margin contracted from 1.9 points to 5.4%.

Net profit was 1.3 million, a 78.9% dive compared to the first half of 2024, has at the same time detailed Orior.

While sales. net profit have exceeded the expectations of analysts interviewed by the AWP agency, the faced high debt, orior contrasts EBITDA is less than 17.1 million anticipated by the market.

Management specified its financial prospects for the whole year. now tabling on a decline in organic sales between -2% and -4%, against -4% at -6% previously expected. The EBITDA margin must be between 5.9% and 6.3% (6% to 6.4% before).

/ATS