Paris, Aug 4 - French vegetable, jam and frozen food producer Bonduelle said on Friday sales in its financial year ending June 30 fell 0.4 percent due to continued downward pressure on foodstuff prices in the euro zone.
Bonduelle said full year sales fell to 1.196 billion euros from 1.201 billion a year earlier, led by a 2.2 percent decline in euro zone sales to 1.036 billion euros. Sales outside the single currency area rose 13.2 percent to 160 million euros.
"These figures reflect a difficult consumer environment and a euro zone food market in deflation," Bonduelle said in a statement.
It said jam sales rose 1.2 percent in like-for-like terms to 574 million euros, mainly due to growth in central and eastern Europe. Frozen food revenues declined 3.4 percent to 277 million euros, while fresh food sales rose 0.3 percent to 345 million.
The company forecast higher 2006/07 sales thanks to the acquisition at the end of July of a 23 percent stake in Canada's Aliments Carriere, which has sales in North America of 210 million euros, and a purchase in Spain that should boost turnover by 10 million euros.
It said the acquisitions should also have a positive impact on results.