Despite significantly lower prices, dairy trader Numidia from Herten, Limburg managed to almost maintain its revenue in 2023. Despite the lower prices, the company experienced a substantial increase in volume, allowing it to continue its growth trajectory. However, the profit did take a step back, as indicated by the annual figures filed with the Chamber of Commerce.
The dairy market in 2022 was characterized by extremely high prices, followed by significant corrections in 2023. Nonetheless, Numidia managed to limit the decrease in revenue to 2%, reaching €917 million. This was offset by a volume increase of 16% to a record 351,000 tons of physical product. According to the company, trading in dairy derivatives is now significantly higher than physical flows.
Solvency shows a slight improvement, rising to 22%, although this is still relatively low. This is not surprising given that the rapidly growing company has been in existence for less than fifteen years. However, the cash flow shows a decline. Just under half of the revenue is generated within Europe. Looking at the various dairy products, 62% of the sales came from milk powder trading, a slightly lower share than in 2022, offset by higher exposure in cheese and butter.
Reduced Profit
Net profit decreased to €16 million. Compared to the record year of 2022, this represents a 23% decline, although it is still much better than previous years. The lower profits at Numidia are likely partly due to the significantly expanded payroll. Interestingly, over €250,000 of the profit goes to its own foundation, which spends it on school projects, mostly in developing countries. Additionally, shareholders paid themselves €10 million in dividends.
With a net profit margin of 1.74%, Numidia performs much better than fellow dairy trader Hoogwegt, which had a margin of 0.43% in the 2022/23 financial year. Interfood, the other major dairy trader in the Netherlands, has not yet filed its 2023 figures.
Growth Agenda
In 2024, Numidia expects to continue its growth agenda. However, the company notes the unrest in the Middle East and the stagnant Chinese dairy import, both of which pose threats to the business. Numidia expects the global dairy market to continue growing annually by up to 2%, but due to increasing risks, there is more growth potential for dairy traders.