Annual report - Viscofan

Preserved vegetables (IAN Group)In 2006,revenue fromthe preservedv egetablesbusiness exceeded€81 million, 8.0% abovelast year’s figure and accountingfor 16% of the consolidated revenues of the ViscofanGroup. Growth was driven by rising demand forasparagus. The Group captured 2.3 points of marketshare versus the previous year, and products underthe Carretilla label gained greater weight.period lastyear, and wasonly 0.7 points lower thanthe third-quarter margin despite the higheradvertising spend associated with the Christmascampaign. EBITDA for 2006 rose 42.3% to €5.6million.Improved operating profitability – in the closingquarter particularly – and stable depreciation andamortisation expenses enabled the preservedvegetables division practically to double full-yearEBIT to €2.9 million, of which about €1 million wasmade in the final quarter (almost 7 times EBIT for thesame period the previous year).Increased revenues, a better sales mix, costcontainment and a lower advertising spendtranslated into a 1.7 percentage point improvementin the full-year EBITDA margin. The EBITDA marginperformed especially well in the fourth quarter of2006, gaining 5 points over the figure for the sameNet earnings were 2.6 times higher than last year at€1.4 million, on the back of the powerful rise in EBITand a lower tax burden through the use of taxdeductions worth €0.3 million from the research anddevelopment area.IAN ended the year with astaff headcount of260 and capitalexpenditure of€2.4 million.23