GHANA – Fan Milk Ghana, a subsidiary of multinational food-products corporation Danone, has reported a 12% rise in interim revenue to GHS 382.1m (US$26.8m) in the nine months ended September from GHS 342.3m (US$24m) recorded in the previous corresponding period.
Despite the growth in earnings, high cost of sales totalling GHS 279.2m (US$19.59m) outstripped the gains made, with gross profit margin dropping from almost 32% last year to 27% this year.
This is as a result of high inflation recorded over the months hitting 37.2% as at end of September, in addition to a significant net exchange loss of GHS 19m (US$1.33m) due to the steep depreciation of the local currency against the USD and the EURO.
These macroeconomics factors severely affected the company to record a negative profit of GHS 16.8m (US$1.18m) as at end of nine months September 2022.
The maker of a wide range of frozen dairy products, recently inaugurated three green projects at its North Industrial Area Plant in Accra in line with its parent company’s global efforts to accelerate to net zero carbon emissions and preserve and restore water resources.
Established at a total cost of seven million Euros (US$6.8m), the wastewater treatment plant, biomass boiler, and solar power installations, demonstrates Danone’s ‘One Planet One Health’ vision and reinforce the company’s leadership in sustainability in Ghana and globally.
The wastewater treatment plant will ensure that only clean water from the factory is discharged into the environment, accelerating the regeneration and sustenance of the Odaw River to promote other forms of life for river bodies.
Also, the solid waste generated from the plant can be used as manure thereby improving the agricultural ecosystem in support of a broader objective of encouraging regenerative agriculture.
This is in line with Danone’s commitment aimed to drive water circularity in and around its production sites by 2030 through implementing 100% of 3R approach i.e., reduce, reuse and recycle. Also, it seeks to assure second life by discharging always discharging clean water.
Meanwhile, the solar power installations at the Industrial area factory, offices, and the various regional distribution centers, are in pursuance of the company’s global strategy of reducing dependency on conventional energy sources and increasing the use of renewable energies.
With the new biomass boiler, FanMilk will now switch from using diesel as its fuel source to a multi-fuel system that uses palm kernel shells or wooden chips to cater to the factory’s steaming requirement of 1,800kg/h.
As part of its journey towards carbon neutrality, Danone is committing to zero net carbon emissions by 2050.
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