Sales at the Swiss group Industrie Migros topped the SF4 billion (€2.7bn) mark for the first time ever last year with total sales by the 14 different companies which make up the Migros group rising 3.9 per cent compared to the previous year.
Some 70 per cent of this growth came from the Migros group in Switzerland, with the remaining 30 per cent coming from export markets. Total export revenues increased by 24 per cent to SF181 million, led by the group's upmarket chocolate brand, Swiss Delice.
The other main export business - essentially a private label manufacturing operation - is expected to take an increasingly large share of Migros group sales in the future, especially once the integration of its newest business - Scana Alimentation - is complete. Scana currently produces branded food products rather than private labels.
Excluding Scana, Migros' private label export business posted sales of SF194 million in 2002.
The Industrie Migros group in Switzerland is composed of bakery and snacks producer Jowa, sauce and condiment maker W. Leuenberger, milk group Estavayer Lait, meat products group Micarna, diversified food producer Bischofszell Produits Alimentaires, confectionery group Chocolat Frey, biscuit and cake manufacturer Midor, margarine producer Mifa, cosmetics manufacturer Mibelle, poultry processor Optigal, dairy processors Seba and Mifroma, coffee producer MBB and rice processor Riseria.
Figures from Mifroma (SF288 million), MBB (SF168 million) and Riseria (SF22 million) are included in the Industrie Migros figures for the first time this year. For the purposes of comparison with the 2001 figures, Migros included sales of SF437 million from these three companies in the previous year's revenues.