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Osborne's German Lifeguard

2021-04-10T03:56:12.212Z


The group of beverages and food products, whose sales fell 30% in 2020, relies on abroad to overcome Fernando Terry, CEO of the Osborne group, Victor Sainz The Osborne Group will celebrate two and a half centuries of history next year in a complicated environment. It will do so while it dodges the umpteenth crisis it is suffering, that of the coronavirus, which has hit it hard: its sales fell by almost 30% in 2020. "In 250 years there are many vicissitudes that history has given and that Osborne


Fernando Terry, CEO of the Osborne group, Victor Sainz

The Osborne Group will celebrate two and a half centuries of history next year in a complicated environment.

It will do so while it dodges the umpteenth crisis it is suffering, that of the coronavirus, which has hit it hard: its sales fell by almost 30% in 2020.

"In 250 years there are many vicissitudes that history has given and that Osborne has managed to overcome," says Fernando Terry Osborne, CEO of the company that, eight generations later, is still chaired by an Osborne, Ignacio, and has as shareholders: some 300 descendants of the founder, the British man who settled in Cádiz, Thomas Osborne Mann.

The forecast is that the pre-pandemic sales level will not recover until 2023. Meanwhile, the Osborne bull clings to Germany, where it improved its numbers by more than 10%;

and for sale through the internet.

In fiscal year 2020, which for the Osborne Group runs from February 1 to January 31, turnover fell to around 160 million from 222 million the previous year.

In the absence of auditing the accounts and the shareholders' meeting, Terry anticipates that the firm will enter into losses.

Although the result of operations is good: if extraordinary expenses are eliminated, it is close to zero ”, says the CEO.

At the beginning of the confinements there were drops in billing of 90%.

"60% of our sales are focused on the hotel industry, which was closed, and also in March and part of April the supermarkets focused on the essentials and did not buy alcoholic products, wine, ham ...", he recalls.

In the case of the Osborne Group, the exit from the toughest phase of the pandemic was full of ups and downs.

At first, overseas sales rebounded, and a modest overall improvement began in the summer.

However, in October the setbacks returned.

Until December, which was a good month in part thanks to seasonal consumer products, such as Iberian products.

By markets, Spain accounts for 70% of sales.

Hence, the drop in national territory (a third less was billed) has a great impact on the overall numbers of the group.

International sales also fell, although with less intensity: -18%.

The one that registered the greatest collapse was sales in

duty free shops

, which lost more than 70%, in line with the fall in air traffic.

A blow that will not be recovered until mobility prior to covid returns.

“It always depends on products, whether it focuses more on the hotel trade or food, and on the countries.

For example, in Germany, where we are very focused on home consumption, brandy and wine have performed very well ”.

So much so that in this country, the second market for Osborne, the rise has exceeded 10% in 2020.

  • Japan welcomes the second Osborne bull erected outside of Spain

Abroad, other places such as Mexico have suffered as much as Spain due to its relevance in the sale of the hotel trade, which has punished the numbers for the year.

“Then there is the case of China, which at the beginning of the year fell a lot, but then recovered a lot.

Or Brazil, which has behaved really well and has exceeded expectations, remaining fairly even with the result of 2019, ”says Terry.

By products, those that have suffered the most have also been those whose consumption depends on the hotel and restaurant industry.

For example, Nordés gin, which has collapsed.

In the opposite case, there are brandies and anise.

And positively, only one brand, as Fernando Terry advances: "In wines, Solaz has improved its sales because it is very impacted by the good evolution of Germany".

The year of the coronavirus has had two effects on the sector.

On the one hand, the loss of general billing.

And, on the other, the rebound in internet commerce.

Grupo Osborne has experienced both, since its digital business has increased through all channels (its own platform, on platforms such as Amazon or in the electronic stores of El Corte Inglés, Carrefour or similar).

“We have almost doubled our total internet sales.

And the percentage of this business has grown from less than 5% to 10% of the company's total sales, ”explains Terry.

In some cases, the rebound is outstanding: for example in Amazon, where they have had an increase of 300%.

This is a movement that may be key to the future of a firm with a quarter of a millennium of history, since these changes tend to accelerate in major crises.

"We have gone through the wars, the misnamed Spanish flu, now the coronavirus ...", says the CEO of the company.

In addition, the Osborne Group has had its own crises, such as the one in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

"There was a resurgence with Magno, the brand that promoted the company at a time when all the Jerez wineries were having a hard time," he recalls.

After this Stations of the Cross and coinciding with the arrival of democracy in Spain, Osborne incorporated brands such as Anís del Mono, one of the best performing in 2020, Bodegas Montecillo and Sánchez Romero Carvajal Cinco Jotas, among others.

Some corporate movements that are also planned now.

“We keep looking at the market, evaluating all the options.

I am sure that before the end of the year there will be incorporations ”, the CEO concludes.

Ambitious plans that are maintained despite the financial situation of a firm that has a staff of around 1,000 workers.

Now, for the moment, the sale on the internet is the one that pulls the car.

But the debt with which the group arrived at the year of the pandemic (133.7 million euros in 2019, four times the ebitda of the firm) can be a brake.

In addition, this debt ratio will rise due to the drop in the operating result of last year, despite the fact that the group has reduced net debt and renegotiated the repayment terms of liabilities with financial partners to alleviate this effect.

Tariff break

The temporary suspension of tariffs between the United States and the European Union for four months has provided relief for the agri-food sector.

Also for the Osborne Group in the marketing of beverages.

“It affected us a lot in the part of wines below 14 degrees, where we started to pay 25% more in customs.

This increase was partially paid for between us and the distributor, although it ended up affecting the price, ”says Fernando Terry.

This has made them less competitive and lose part of their market share.

"The withdrawal of the tariffs, which we hope will be permanent, will be a relief and will allow us to return to the price range we were in and stop bearing this extra cost," adds the CEO of the Osborne Group.


Source: elparis

All business articles on 2021-04-10

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