Fodelia announced a couple of days ago problems in their Foodservice segment due to the corona crisis. No surprise there. Instead, the company’s reaction to this is not necessarily growth-oriented: more resources are now being put into Feelia Ruokakauppa, aimed at consumers. It seems that the company’s focus is somewhat elsewhere than growing the vegan snack segment. A shame, it feels a bit like this momentum is being missed in the corona panic.
Appetit: I read Inderes’ company report Odotettu tulosparannus näkyy jo osakekurssissa - Inderes, which is slightly positive regarding the theme of this discussion, as investments may have been made to benefit from the vegetarian food trend. However, low-margin (and harvest-dependent) grain trading is still the company’s largest part, and food solutions the smallest.
Ittella+Forum Merger II => Tattooed Chef will be realized, it looks like an attractive investment target in the future as well.
And a small North America update anyway, there seems to be more interesting stuff in this segment:
Burcon NutraScience: specialized in plant proteins, cooperating with Nestlé, among others. Over twenty years of experience in the field
The Very Good Food Company: a Canadian company specialized in vegan meat, its products are praised as better than Beyond Meat, sales more than doubled this year
Else Nutrition: an Israeli-based company specialized in vegan baby food. A key concern for vegetarian parents seems to be the nutritional content of vegetarian food for infants, and this company appears to offer a targeted solution to the problem
Tyson Foods: aiming directly for the same markets as Beyond Meat. For some reason, the stock has not returned anywhere near pre-COVID levels, has the market’s faith dwindled?
Else Nutrition has had an unrealistically strong rally, up 113% in a month, and The Very Good Food Company almost as much. The share price increase of these companies may not be on a very strong foundation; the latter has been discussed here: https://youtu.be/rkl39ppvTGg. So far, however, things seem to be rolling along very well.
Apetit seems to be the only Finnish company on the stock exchange that is clearly investing in the plant-based boom. The final sentence of the third-quarter business review could not state it more directly: “We are systematically implementing our strategy with the goal of making Apetit a successful Finnish company focused on plant-based products.” Directing towards the Swedish consumer market and investments in vegetable oil products indicate the same. Hopefully, that final sentence means that the grain trading side of the company will gradually diminish in importance.
Apetit would have enormous potential, but at least for now, its poor ownership structure ensures that its grain business continues. Among the major owners are entities with a political agenda to hold on to the grain business. However, I believe the company is otherwise moving in the right direction, and now might be a good time to jump in if you like the company.
Yeah, the imbalance between the food/oil side and grains is huge, with over 80% of the profit coming from the former, but 75% of the turnover revolving around grain trading. It’s so massive that a bad grain year can easily ruin what would otherwise be a good result. I kind of suspect that this fundamental problem will curb the stock’s development for a long time yet, unless the grain business is sold off entirely.