Financial year 2025

Our financial year 2025 is characterised by several important developments and events:

The development of dairy product prices in 2025 had two faces: quite stable prices in the first half year (however significantly higher - approximately 20% - compared to last year) and a significant price decrease in the second half of the year (i.e. milk prices in the Netherlands dropped significantly between August and December 2025). Overall year average milk prices in 2025 were almost 10% higher than 2024. Increasing prices have an impact on higher cost levels affecting, amongst others, working capital. As sales prices decreased significantly in the second half of 2025 and not all cost increases could be passed through towards our customers, margins decreased 1%-point.
Amongst others, cost increases were partly due to significant increase in labour costs throughout 2025, mainly due to collective labour agreements (CLA) increases. The impact of increasing labour costs directly impacted the operational expenses for the year.
After the acquisition of a dairy factory in Salas (Spain) in 2024, the focus in 2025 was constructing this new manufacturing plant dedicated to the production of mozzarella cheese. This significant investment represents an important component of Royal A-ware's product portfolio and presence abroad. The Salas project is in full swing of the commissioning and test-phase, for which the go-live is now expected in the first half of 2026.
After approval from the European Commission, Royal A-ware acquired The Dairy Food Group per 28 April 2025. The Dairy Food Group is a Belgian dairy company actively involved in manufacturing and sales of fresh dairy products in Europe and beyond. With this acquisition we continue our growth in Belgium, our second home country, and diversify our fresh and UHT dairy product portfolio. Adding The Dairy Food Group to Royal A-ware, results in access to additional milk of the Belgian milk pool and to further diversify our activities and product portfolio.
The investments required to renovate the installations and infrastructure of the Olympia facility are not economically viable. We therefore had to decide to cease operations at the Olympia facility. On 24 June 2025, the unions and the Olympia Board reached an agreement on the social plan. The restructuring and closure costs are part of the total operating expenses and impairment costs are reported under a separate line in the P&L.
On 18 February 2026 Royal A-ware acquired Global Dairy Ventures. Global Dairy Ventures is a distributor of specialty cheese and dairy products primarily in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The Barcelona-based company connects European producers of premium cheese and dairy products with customers, among others, in retail and foodservice. With the acquisition of Global Dairy Ventures, we strengthen our market position in Southern Europe and can offer customers an even more complete product portfolio.
During 2025 we further utilised the financing facility (the refinance took place at the end of 2024), as this enables us to execute our growth plans together with actively managing the working capital.