A. Espersen A/S

Beskrivelse af virksomhedens væsentligste aktiviteter

Espersen is a global supplier of frozen and chilled seafood products for the retail and foodservice markets, supplying international customer groups like Aldi, Lidl, Nomad, Tesco and McDonald’s as well as other international and large retail chains, foodservice chains and B2B customers, with whom Espersen have a long-lasting business relationship. Espersen's own brand Rahbek is sold in Denmark and the Nordic countries. Espersen operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom. The main raw material for Espersen products is frozen fish sourced globally.

Beskrivelse af udviklingen i virksomhedens aktiviteter og økonomiske forhold

Espersen has now completed one full fiscal year, after the acquisition of the Grimsby facility in the United Kingdom in September 2023, adding a factory inside one of the core markets with a primary focus on consumer and chilled products to Espersen customers. The factory is undergoing a turnaround and has not delivered according to the original business plan. In 2024 Espersen restructured the management as well as the production flow and updated the business plan to be in line with the current market realities.
In 2024 Espersen has a management change with a new CEO (5 August 2024) and a newly defined Group Management consisting of CEO, CFO and four Senior Vice Presidents: Production, Supply chain, Commercial and HR. End of 2024 Espersen was searching for a new CFO and the SVP HR started on 15 October 2024.
Espersen realized a revenue of DKK 3,304 for 2024 or a decline of DKK 162 m. (4.7%) compared to 2023. The revenue development was positively impacted by a full year of ownership of the Grimsby business.
In 2024 we experienced a drop in the external volume due to slower demand impacted by the global macroeconomic situation with the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the unstable situation in the Middle East. This was particularly enforced in the third quarter where price increases began to be reflected in consumer prices and during the fourth quarter as raw material prices for Espersen’s main species, Atlantic Cod, from the Barents Sea, increased due to lower quotas.
The profit before net financials was expected in the range of DKK 70m – DKK 100m for the financial year of 2024. The realized profit before ne financials came out at DKK -57m. The much poorer performance was due to a lower volume, higher prices on raw materials and a negative development of the newly acquired business in the UK
The profit before net financials for the financial year 2024 is unsatisfactory.
The Group’s solvency decreased to 28% at 31 December 2024 compared to 34% at the end of 2023. The decrease is mainly due to a lower equity caused by the poor result of 2024.

Omtale af betydningsfulde hændelser, som er indtruffet efter regnskabsårets afslutning

After the year-end closing, Espersen has decided to cease production in Lithuania and move the volume to Poland. By doing this Espersen is taking out excess capacity and improving efficiency.
No other significant events have occured.

Beskrivelse af virksomhedens forventede udvikling

Our outlook for 2025 shows both topline and bottom-line stability. The global macroeconomic situation requires a strategy with the flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions. Espersen focuses on profitability and during 2024 the company carried out several initiatives which will show results during 2025. The Consumer Production analysis showed the efficiency gains of combining the two consumer productions in Poland and relocating two lines. This task started in March 2025 and will be finished by July 2025. In the Primary Platform, it was in February 2025 announced to close Espersen’s facility in Klaipeda and move the production to the facility in Poland.
In connection with these two optimisations in production, all support functions to our production, incl. office functions, have been analysed and will the adjusted during 2025 enabling Espersen to continue the journey we started in 2023 by focusing on people first, customer priority and operational excellence and thereby set Espersen in a strong position to be able to adapt to the developing business environment. An important factor in 20205 is the reduced quotas on Atlantic cod from the Barents Sea, which is Espersen's main species. The cut is 25-30% and according to prospects, the quotas will not be lifted for the next 2-3 years.
One aspect potentially impacting the raw material situation is further sanctions imposed on Russian fish or customer groups deliberately walking away from fish products based on Russian fish. Russia holds a significant share of the world quota for cod and haddock, which are important fish species used by Espersen. Although there are not any sanctions on fish or other food products in the EU at present, the situation has already led to further focus on non-Russian alternatives.
Also, a potential trade war with increased tariffs between the US and Europe and the US and China might impact business in 2025. As for the US and China situation, that can potentially have a positive impact on Espersen’s facility in Vietnam.
Various contingency and efficiency plans have been worked out and implemented in 2024 and these will continue to be rolled out in the future to ensure we optimize the internal cost and efficiency base for Espersen.
Expected development
With current knowledge, we estimate 2025 revenue in the range of DKK 3,000 – 3,500 and a profit-margin before interest and tax (EBIT) before special items within an interval of -3.0% and 0.0%.