5 September 2006 - Lantmännen coordinates its bread business in order to offer consumers the market's best range of bread. Lantmännen has decided to coordinate the Group's entire bread business, which has a turnover of around SEK 6 billion and 4,200 employees. The aim is to take advantage of the collected expertise in the field of bread. Fresh bread in Lantmännen Axa is thus being transferred to a new independent unit, Lantmännen Färskbröd, which is being coordinated with Lantmännen Unibake under business area manager Bent Pultz Larsen.
Morten Hellesen, currently Schulstad Danmark's CEO, will manage the new unit Lantmännen Färskbröd, with a turnover of 2.3 billion and over 2,200 employees, and business in Sweden, Denmark and Poland. Morten Hellesen is 42 and has been employed at Schulstad since 1999, first as director of sales and marketing and since 2000 as CEO. Before that he worked for 11 years at SCA Hygiene products.
Lantmännen Unibake manufactures frozen bread, and following the acquisition of the Belgian bakery group Belpan earlier this year it has a turnover of SEK 3.8 billion, and nearly 1,900 employees.
"The change is in line with Lantmännen's ambition to create businesses with a modern and attractive range, competitive prices and a wide market cover. We are now mustering strength in the field of bread and simultaneously creating better conditions for Lantmännen Axa's other products to focus its marketing and product development further," says Birgitta Johansson Hedberg, Lantmännen's President and CEO.
"The Swedish fresh-bread business has many strong brands and a long tradition, but is also subject to extremely tough competition. Significant changes are required in areas such as production in order to achieve satisfactory profitability. If we adhere to the ongoing programme of measures and utilise the strength and the synergies available within Lantmännen's collected bread business in Sweden and Denmark I'm convinced we can turn current losses in Sweden into long-term good business," says Bent Pultz-Larsen, business area manager Lantmännen Unibake.
"Lantmännen Axa has many strong brands in which we are experiencing positive development. Some examples are Start, Axa and Kungsörnen. We will be further focusing on our new and current investments such as Gooh, Go Green and Foodservice," says Håkan Lundstedt, business area manager Lantmännen Axa.
The change will come into force on October 1. Local MBL negotiations will be commenced immediately.