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In an uncertain economic context, Euralis generated 1.57 billion euros in turnover in the 2023-2024 financial year, with an increase in sales volumes but lower prices, particularly for grains. The Group’s operating profitability increased, with its EBITDA up 6 million euros.
In our sector, the time lag between farming, food processing, and market release requires high working capital throughout the year. The increase in stocks – particularly seeds and fattened ducks – and the rising cost of funding have a direct impact on most of our activities’ financial performance.
Consequently, to improve its economic and financial performance, Euralis implemented structural and contingency measures as early as 2024 in a bid to adapt organisations to new market conditions, reduce overhead expenses and limit stocks.
The Group stays on track and confirms its development strategy: it maintains its commitments to the agroecological transition and remains on the lookout for potential partnerships with stakeholders in its sector.
Focus on the results of each Activity
Agricultural Division: confirmation of the durability-focused strategy
Despite a difficult situation marked by a fall in markets and prices, particularly for grains, the Agricultural Division is continuing its transformation and rolling out its strategy to develop sustainable sectors.
- Plant sectors recorded good performance thanks to a satisfactory collection in autumn 2023 (grains, vegetables, seeds). The structuring of all sectors into Producer Organisations (POs) is continuing and Agronomic Consulting offers are being rolled out to 1,800 farmers.
- Livestock production witnessed:
○ a high increase for ducks and geese (volumes up 33%) thanks to the vaccination campaign.
○ near-stable results for certified poultry.
- The resilient Point Vert activities increased their market share, in a market which shrank by 5%. The “Table des Producteurs” brand continued to expand (+ 4.6%), confirming consumers’ desire for high-quality, local products.
- The development of renewable energies (RES) is accelerating beyond partnerships for the production of biofuels and biogas. In fact, Eurasolis’s solar power activity is still increasing – 47 solar power plants were commissioned – confirming the Agricultural Division’s commitment to an innovative strategy focused on the energy transition.
Seed Activities: market shares reclaimed in a disrupted sector
Lidea managed to reclaim market shares thanks to an intense sales strategy and the quality of its genetics. The Group’s Seed Activities thus recorded a rise in turnover of 34 million euros. Nevertheless, to curb the structural drop in export markets – linked in particular to the Russia/Ukraine conflict – Lidea had to adjust its production capacity in France. In addition, high stocks and costs, eroded margins and rising financial costs required a savings and resources reallocation plan as of October 2024, which included adapting its industrial capacity.
Throughout the financial year, research efforts were refocused on the most strategic crops (maize, sunflower and rapeseed), with encouraging results:
- The Milady grain maize variety ranks in the top 3 in France (110,000 units sold);
- The 2024 rapeseed campaign saw its sales increase by 42% compared to 2023.
Lastly, at the international level, promising trials are being carried out in the United States and Africa to develop new markets.
Duck Activities: a necessary transformation to cope with challenges
Throughout the financial year, Euralis Gastronomie was confronted with additional costs linked to the vaccination campaign and -ovo sexing, the lack of foie gras for the 2023 season (following the bird flu outbreak) and the closure of certain export markets. In this context, a transformation project was launched in December 2024, leading to the halt in activities at the Sarlat site.
At the same time, a strategy to win back market shares was implemented for the Rougié and Maison Montfort brands, consisting of a return to flagship products for the former and a redesign of product ranges for the latter.
The effective roll-out of the vaccination campaign and these product innovations helped to safeguard duck production and ensure performance during the 2024 festive season.
Catering Activities: adapting to markets and continuous improvement
In the context of an unfavourable market (inflation and a fall in consumption), Catering Activities focused on improvements in industrial and logistics performance, and winning back market shares. Various initiatives were implemented: price repositioning, a new charcuterie range and improved stock management.
Finally, the renovation of the savoury pastry workshop at the Yffiniac site, combined with a simplified internal organisation, helped to improve the Division’s efficiency.
Euralis is strengthening its CSR commitments
CSR is strategic for Euralis: it feeds into all Activities and helps the Group structure a continuous improvement strategy. It also helps to better meet the growing demands of stakeholders (particularly financial partners and clients) and adapt to regulatory requirements.
Euralis’s CSR policy, based on three pillars (Environment, Social and Governance), reflects the Group’s concrete pledges in this area, as shown by two key examples.
France 2030: the Ceres Project to build the agriculture of the future
The Ceres project, launched in 2024 with the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departmental Council and 12 other partners (the Pau-Pyrenees metropolitan area, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, INRAE, Terres Inovia, Bordeaux Sciences Agro, ENSAT Toulouse, WIUZ and 5 Euralis pilot farms), is a regional illustration of the agroecological transition. Over the next six years, it aims to deploy the system on 400 farms in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in Southwest France, to meet the following challenges:
- Environmental: managing water resources, reducing the use of plant protection products and chemical fertilisers, maintaining biodiversity;
- Economic: developing contract farming, improving remuneration for farmers, training farmers and consultants;
- Social: integrating farms in their socioeconomic environment, maintaining and developing the local agricultural fabric.
Ceres highlights Euralis’s willingness to focus on consulting and supporting farmers in the transition towards sustainable agriculture, combining new crop systems, agrosupplies, alternative techniques and high-precision agriculture.
Pursuing commitments to decarbonise activities
In the 2023-2024 financial year, the Group committed to the SBTI strategy in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
After the Agricultural Division, Seed Activities and Duck Activities launched a Décarbon’Alim strategy to define and implement their low-carbon roadmap.
In addition, Euralis helps farmers to commit to decarbonising their farms:
- Integrating protein and soya crops;
- Implementing non-tilling practices;
- Using cover crops supplied by Lidea which are capable of storing carbon, etc.
A human and social policy with strong commitments
Euralis is committed to preserving and enhancing its human capital, by acting as a leader for its community (employees, members and farmers) and in collaboration with regional partners. This involves, for example, putting a strong emphasis on social dialogue, as observed during recent social plans rolled out in the Group, which ended up in the signing of agreements with trade unions. Helping employees concerned return to work is a priority, as is searching for buyers and reindustrialising the sites where activity is threatened.
Oxygène Project: a strong commitment to promoting gender equality in the workplace
Led alongside and for the benefit of employees from all Divisions, this strategy aims to create the best possible conditions to help employees thrive at Euralis. In 2023-2024, Oxygène capitalised on collective intelligence by inviting over 1,000 employees to complete a survey and over 200 others to participate in work groups. This collective strategy led to the creation of an action plan, the first measures of which are currently being rolled out: training managers, raising awareness of sexism among all employees, promoting work/life balance, adapting HR systems, etc. This commitment has been strengthened by the signing of a workplace equality agreement with all of the Group’s representative trade unions, signalling an additional step.
Partnerships: driving the development and adaptation of the Euralis Group
A deep conviction lies at the heart of the Euralis strategy: the successful adaptation to changes in agricultural and agrifood markets involves establishing solid, pivotal partnerships. Some of them are historic and they constitute a solid foundation on which the Group has built its development:
- In the vegetable sector, alliances with Bonduelle and Géant Vert help to optimise the production, processing and marketing of products, by drawing on industrial expertise and the strength of these partner distributors.
- The partnership with Océol in the innovative field of biofuels falls within an initiative to leverage agricultural production and contribute to the energy transition.
- In the seeds sector, collaborations with Innolea, Soltis and Eurosorgho help to enrich the range of seed varieties, access state-of-the-art technology and strengthen Euralis’s position in this strategic market.
- Partnerships with Sanders Euralis and Sojalim in the animal feed sector offer the opportunity to develop high-performance food solutions that respect animal welfare, by integrating the latest technological advances in nutrition.
- Lastly, pooled collections with other cooperatives in Southwest France attest to the shared willingness to optimise resources while continuing to provide the best possible service to farmers.
Other partnerships are more recent: the Group is actively pursuing its policy to open up new strategic collaborations.
- The rapid increase in the production of pulses with Bonduelle responds to growing consumer demand for healthy, sustainable and local products.
- The partnership with Lur Berri to sell cattle aims to strengthen the cattle sector in Southwest France, sustainably consolidate the entire value chain and maintain it at the local level.
- The slaughtering service for Delpeyrat (Maïsadour group) in Vendée (Western France), which began in January 2025, has helped to optimise the industrial facilities at the Les Herbiers site.
Christophe Congues, President of Euralis: making sustainable and profitable agriculture our priority
“Our mission is to build sectors which ensure a future for our members’ farms, particularly with our strategic downstream clients. Agricultural cooperatives such as Euralis are intended to serve as a gateway between the aspirations and needs of consumers and French agrifood production. In light of global competition and other countries which are significantly developing their agriculture, our sector requires a vast investment plan which will necessarily involve strengthening collaborations between all stakeholders concerned. Recognising farming and processing activities as being of major general interest would be a good sign. Together, we are capable of decarbonising our activities and producing more high-quality products. Public authorities need to support these transitions.”
Philippe Saux, CEO of Euralis: agility and adapting to overcome challenges
“We are acting responsibly using several levers: adapting our organisations, reducing our overhead expenses and improving our operating performance. Since the start of 2024, plans to reduce overhead expenses have been implemented by our Activities. These difficult measures are unfortunately necessary to allow us to adapt to new market conditions, particularly rising funding costs. We have always known how to act individually and collectively to cope with these changes. We are opening up to other economic stakeholders and strengthening our partnerships to invest in the agriculture of the future. This collaborative approach helps not only to pool strengths and expertise, but also innovate, access new markets and enhance the Group’s competitiveness. We are transforming challenges into opportunities to build a solid future for Euralis, its members and employees.”
Press contact: Nathalie Salmon +33 (0)6 48 08 52 88 – nathalie.salmon@euralis.com
For more information: www.euralis.fr