2023 closes with a turnover of 216.5 million euros, an increase of 7% compared to the previous year.
Thus continues our growth path made up of industrial investments aimed at maintaining a high level of innovation in our products and important projects in the countries of origin of cocoa where we guarantee high quality of the raw material through a sustainable approach for the environment and people.
With +36% growth in turnover since 2019, we have been able to manage the difficulties that have characterized the sector – first the increases in the cost of energy and then the surge in the price of cocoa – and return to the pre-pandemic situation in 2023 with a Double-digit EBITDA. An organic and balanced growth between the three different business areas that contribute to the composition of the company turnover: 47% for own-brand products (both for the professional and consumer channels), 38% for private labels and 15% of products intended for industry.
We are today one of the few companies in Italy that follows the entire cocoa transformation process: from bean to bar for almost all national and international private label brands and for the final consumer with Vanini brand products; passing through a large production of semi-finished products intended for industry and the professional market with the ICAM Professional and Agostoni brands. We have been able to make space for ourselves in the national and international confectionery sector thanks to a profound knowledge of the raw material and a very strong innovative spirit which allows us to always be able to interpret the business needs of customers (especially industrial ones), creating from time to time an ad hoc offer based on different needs. This approach has led us to see our business grow year after year, even abroad, which today represents 56% of turnover.
A presence abroad that has continuously expanded over the years in the most strategic countries, both at a commercial and supply chain level, with a total of around 500 collaborators around the world. In addition to the Italian headquarters in Orsenigo (CO), we are now present in Uganda with ICAM Chocolate Uganda ltd., with sales offices in the United States (Agostoni Chocolate US), in the United Kingdom (ICAM Chocolate UK) and, the last two subsidiaries created , ICAM France and ICAM Chocolate Peru Sac.
For almost 80 years we have been pursuing an approach which has seen us, on the one hand, committed to traveling the world to identify the countries with the best conditions (political-administrative and geological) for cocoa cultivation (today the company purchases cocoa from 70 different countries), forging strong relationships with grower cooperatives with the common objective of creating the best conditions – working, environmental and well-being – to obtain high quality cocoa; and on the other to offer our customers all of ours expertise to guarantee an innovative, quality offer always in line with sector trends.
In particular, the commitment to safeguarding the environment and preserving the well-being of cocoa plantations in the countries of origin is, today more than ever, a fundamental and essential element, not only due to the increasingly stringent European regulations on these issues, but above all to guarantee the well-being of the planet, of the plantations and of the people who derive their livelihood from them. A commitment that we have always carried out through farmer training programs aimed at preserving the biodiversity of the land and combating soil erosion and impoverishment. Right at the beginning of 2023, the program involving 600 farmers in learning some cultivation techniques aimed at increasing the resilience of the land started in Uganda (at the cocoa collection center, ICAM Uganda ltd., founded in 2013). to climate change. It will have a duration of 3 years and will be accompanied in 2024 by other important investments in projects aimed at increasing the productivity of cocoa plants, through the adoption of sustainable approaches, and traceability in Central Africa and also in some plantations in Peru.
A corporate investment program that does not stop at the cocoa’s countries of origin, but which also cascades into the Orsenigo production plant, the beating heart of the company’s technological innovation, which will be the protagonist of some implementations aimed at expanding production capacity and product innovation, in addition to the strengthening of the Innovation Center where already today over 400 recipes come to life through the R&D department.
Today we live in a particularly complex socio-economic context in which those who work in the production of chocolate find themselves facing various important challenges,declaredAdelio Crippa, our General Director. The constant increase in cocoa prices, which began in 2023, experienced an important surge in the first months of 2024, going from 3,400 pounds/ton at the end of December to 5,500 pounds/ton at the end of February. A dramatic increase and an equally worrying decline in the availability of the raw material which is creating quite a few concerns for the market. Our sustainable approach to the supply chain that we have always carried out, in Italy as in the countries of origin, unfortunately does not today exempt us from having to face the consequences of the reduction in the availability of raw materials and the soaring cost. With the aim of having as little impact as possible on our customers, and cascading on the final consumer, we are continuing, on the one hand, to pursue direct and long-term relationships with grower cooperatives to monitor the problem of availability, on the On the other hand, we are in constant communication with our customers with periodic updates on the situation and setting price increases that are controlled but necessary to support the entire supply chain through sustainable methods, as we have always done.
“After the outbreak of the health emergency we never expected to end the year with these numbers, says Angelo Agostoni, President of ICAM Chocolate. Results that, despite the dramatic situation that the whole world is experiencing, reward us for the enormous efforts made during this terrible year. A particular thanks for the excellent work done, certainly goes to all the people of ICAM, from the production line operators to the administrative staff, who have always been there, even in the first difficult and uncertain months of the pandemic, company, allowing us to carry on our work and meet deadlines.”
