TRADE AND MARKET I NG Danespo CEO Steen Bitsch: ‘Our principal aim is not growth, but stability and profit’ has 49 percent of the shares. What remains is 2 percent of the shares, which is now owned by employees and growers/suppliers, Bitsch shows in the latest organisation chart. What does the acquisition mean for your own French branch? ‘It’s been 16 years now since we took up a majority share in the Les Touquet Plants potato company in the north of France. Meanwhile, we’re operating here under the name Danespo France. Thanks to the collaboration with Florimond Desprez and Germicopa, we can also strengthen our position enormously through them.’ The idea is that Florimond Desprez will focus on the development of pre-basic material and that Germicopa and Danespo will each work in their own fields with the selection and propagation of varieties. ‘And that, as far as Danespo is concerned, will apply to all cultivation areas, so starch, table, crisp and chip potatoes’, according to Bitsch. And then a final question: what position do you hope to achieve within 10 years’ time in the European potato playing field? Bitsch has clearly been expecting this question and takes up a timetable which says in Danish: Hvor kom vi fra? Whence did we come (and whither do we go)? It’s a displacement scheme in which all important European companies in the potato sector have been marked. The two criteria are: the non-contracted/licensed share within the companies, and the size/turnover. ‘As you can see, in 2006, we were approximately in the position in which a company like Stet Holland was in a few months ago (before the take-over of the KWS activities, ed.). In 2008, we almost had as many non-contracted potatoes as licensed ones, also thanks to successful varieties such as Royal and Sarpo Mira. Royal is doing very well for that matter, we’re already growing around 5,000 hectares of consumption potatoes in Europe and we’re still expanding. In regard to business size, in 2008 we roughly compared to Solana and Norika. And in 2020, we hope to have come alongside Germicopa and Meijer, mainly with the trade and development of our own varieties. What the timetable clearly shows is that growth in DLF Seeds A/S The DANESPO Group 49 49 Steen Bitsch enthusiastically gives an explanation to a delegation from the new French shareholder Florimond Desprez about the packaging activity in the newly-purchased Danpotatoes building. business size is less important to us than growth in our own share in varieties.’ This doesn’t apply to Sweden though. Danespo will be focusing strongly on that country in the coming years, Bitsch states in no uncertain terms. ‘We’re currently very successful in Sweden. The most important reason is the lower transportation costs. In the last 10 years, we’ve been able to double our turnover in Sweden, although not only with our own potatoes. In Scandinavia, we are also the representatives of Norika, Comité Nord and Plantera. Because Sweden is so important to us, we want to start up a permanent sales channel, just like in the Netherlands, which will be named Danespo Sweden. So, you now know everything’, Bitsch laughs out loud. It’s now time to make a tour of the newly-purchased Danpotatoes packaging station with the men of Florimond Desprez. At that very moment, another new potato harvest consisting of a range of varieties slides into the shiny-printed plastic. But as far as Danespo is concerned, in a few years time they will all come from their own breeding ground. ● FD Admiral SAS Leo Hanse Grading stations, growers, employees 2 Danespo A/S Danespo France 100 100 NSP GmbH & Co KG Germany KMC 50 Vandel Potatoes I/S 50 100 Danespo Holland B.V. BWS 50 Kartoffelpakhuset I/S Others 80 Thorsens Chipskartofler A/S 50 Danespo food 20 Danespo seed Organisation chart of Danespo in 2016: more conveniently arranged than before, as appears from CEO Steen Bitsch’s explanation. Potato World 2016 • number 3 9 Pagina 8
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