Last year, Royal FloraHolland (RFH) suffered a substantial loss of EUR 17 million, compared to only EUR 4 million the year before. RFH has set a clear profitability target for 2024. CEO Steven van Schilfgaarde tells us that RFH is indeed on course to end in the black this year, though there are still uncertainties, including financial provisions for the reorganisation. This positive outlook is mainly attributable to cost savings, a lower energy bill, higher charges and non-recurring revenues. The latter refers to the sale of the former Pyramid site in Naaldwijk to Lievaart Expeditie.
Note that another one-off revenue, the sale of the land surrounding the World Horti Center to the Westland municipality, which is in its final stages, will not be included in the 2024 RFH budget but will be part of next year’s budget. “We do, however, strive to realise structural profits without [relying on] one-off revenues,” Van Schilfgaarde said.
Particularly due to the high flower prices, grower turnover achieved through RFH has been slightly higher than budgeted. For 2024, Royal FloraHolland budgeted only a small increase over 2023, when growers realised a total turnover of EUR 5.1 billion through RFH. In contrast, Van Schilfgaarde finds the market for plants has been tougher than last year, but then plants did extremely well in 2023. The higher flower prices are boosting commission income for RFH. Yet, the weather conditions have lowered the supply of flowers from Kenya and Ethiopia in particular, reducing revenues from trolley charges, lot charges and logistics services.
