Message from Hubbard's CEO

NETHERLANDS - The CEO of Hubbard explains the recent developments in the company.
calendar icon 5 October 2010
clock icon 4 minute read

In the Autumn - Winter 2010 edition of Hubbard Newsletter, CEO, Stéphane Duthoit writes:

It is now five years ago when Hubbard became part of Groupe Grimaud, which since then has tripled its company size. Today, Groupe Grimaud is the true number 2 multi-species animal breeding company in the world.

Since early 2005, when Hubbard joined the group, many positive developments have taken place:

  • Newsham Choice Genetics (pig genetics) has been integrated into the group; not just giving Groupe Grimaud a significant access into the pig breeding industry, but also allowing them to share experience and competences in “Genomics” techniques.
  • Vivalis (bio-pharmacy) has successfully been introduced on the Euronext stock exchange in Paris.
  • Novogen (layer genetics) has been established in 2008 and received a very warm welcome from the layer industry around the world.
  • Very recently, a special entity has been created which focuses on the breeding of rabbits fulfilling the specific demands of the bio-pharmacy industry.

This growth has been managed very carefully, focusing on financial stability and a positive balance of the group, aimed at securing a prosperous future of the business and its partners. Presently focusing on organic growth, taking into account the strengths of the Group's companies and in particular Hubbard's on its main historical markets.

The enormous challenges the industry has been facing in the last few years have contributed to build up a much stronger company capable of managing difficult situations in times of sanitary, political or economic crises. It also has proven the importance to preserve a large gene pool offering more flexibility for innovative solutions to an industry facing more and more constraints being imposed to them: increased feed prices, animal welfare regulations, increased segmentation of the markets and in some countries a reduction in production surface.

To support its sales growth, Hubbard increased its own production surface around the world during the years 2008- 2009 with more than 70,000 square metres. However it is no longer solely our role to supply the right products with the right genetic potential, but even more importantly to provide the industry with innovative solutions.

These should allow our customers to maximise their profits and market position by responding in the best possible way to the different requirements of the consumers. This will become even more significant in the coming years. It is very important to continue to build a strong relationship with the actors in the industry to continue to better understand and anticipate to the changing needs of the consumers, governmental institutions and the populations around the world.

We should not forget that there is still a lot of room for optimisation. Genomics could be one of the interesting tools to achieve this, for which it will be critical to be able to share newly gained knowledge with the major actors to protect the industry. However, the major challenge is to feed 6.5 billion inhabitants of the planet today and more than nine billion in thirty years from now – a lot of work to be done but what a motivation we have!

Groupe Grimaud has raised €40 million of capital

On 2 July 2010, Groupe Grimaud has raised €40 million of capital to support its strategy for growth of its biopharmaceutical and animal genetics activities. The Grimaud family members remain to hold the majority of the shares, and the new shareholder 'FSI' (Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement) will be a reference long-term shareholder and partner of Groupe Grimaud.

Since 2005, Groupe Grimaud has tripled its size without compromising on its very solid financial structure, overall on a zero debt-basis. This enables the group to anticipate its future in a serene way, looking for further development of its existing activities in high potential markets with high barriers to enter.

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