Bonduelle

History

• The company was founded in 1853, when Louis Bonduelle-Dalle and Louis Lesaffre-Roussel established a grain and juniper berry distillery in Marquette-lez-Lille. On June 17, 1862, they expanded to a farm in Renescure, which they turned into a grain alcohol distillery.
• 1901 the company and its seven production sites were divided into three family owned companies: Bonduelle, Lesaffre and Lemaître.
• 1926 the business began canning peas. Demand in the 1930s enabled the company to expand, but the firm's operations were suspended in 1940 through the end of World War II.
• The mid 1960s, the company began to improve its exports, and in 1968, began freezing vegetables. Several European subsidiaries were launched: in Germany in 1969, in Italy in 1972 and in England in 1973. By 1973, exports accounted for half of the company's turnover.
• 1980, Bonduelle acquired Belgian canned food company, Marie Thumas, and purchased Cassegrain in 1989.
• The company continued to grow internationally, adding subsidiaries in Brazil in 1994 and in Argentina in 1996.
• 1997, the company entered the "fresh processed" business with the acquisition of Salade Minute.
• 2004, Bonduelle Group created the Louis Bonduelle Foundation, which aims to promote the public usefulness of vegetables by putting the benefits of vegetables to the public good.
• 2007, Bonduelle completed its acquisition of Canadian firm Aliments Carrière, a leader in vegetables and frozen foods, which enabled gave it access to 39,500 hectares of farmland.
• 2010, Bonduelle bought France Champignon, a leading European mushroom company.
• 2011, Bonduelle inaugurated the San Paolo d’Argon plant in Italy, the largest packaged green salad production site. Bonduelle took over the Kelet Food assets in Hungary and the Cecab Group assets in Russia. In the United States, Bonduelle bought 3 frozen food plants and a packaging site from the Allens Group.
• 2017, Bonduelle acquired Ready Pac Foods, an American based manufacturer of food products featuring fresh produce.
• April 2018, the company announced Guillaume Debrosse as the new CEO.

  Brands

• Bonduelle
• Cassegrain
• Globus
• Arctic Gardens
• Ready Pac Foods

  Financial data

• 9,569 full-time equivalent employees in 2013/2014
• 48 industrial sites
• 100,000 hectares cultivated by 3,440 farmers under contract.
• Canned goods make up 51% of turnover, fresh vegetables account for 22% and frozen foods account for the remaining 27% of the company's sales turnover.

  Stock market data

• Shares traded on the Paris Stock Exchange
• Member of the CAC Mid & Small, CAC All Shares, CAC All Tradable
• ISIN code = FR0000063935
• Face value = Euro
• Shareholder breakdown:
• * General partners 27.63%
• * Others members of Bonduelle family 24.75%
• * Public 38.80%
• * Employees and treasury shares 8.81%

Governance

• Chief Executive Officer: Guillaume Debrosse
• Non-Executive Chairman: Christophe Bonduelle
• Director, Bonduelle Development: Benoît Bonduelle
• Director of External Relations and Sustainable Development: Jean-Bernard Bonduelle
• Human Resources Director: Bruno Rauwel
• Administrative and Financial Director: Grégory Sanson
• Director, Bonduelle Long Life Europe : Philippe Carreau
• Director, Bonduelle Americas: Daniel Vielfaure
• Director, Bonduelle Fresh Europe: Pascal Bredeloux