Polish meat processor raises sales despite wage growth pressure

The company’s higher sales translated into an increased net profit of some PLN21.6m (€5.03m), up 5.5% compared with PLN20.47m (€4.77m) in the first six months of 2016, according to ZM Henryk Kania’s financial report for the first half of this year.

The company said its plans for 2017 included further development of its sliced and dry products which it claimed are increasingly popular in the Polish market.

Dwindling unemployment triggers wage growth​

The rapidly decreasing unemployment rate in Poland is forcing local meat industry players to significantly increase the wages of their employees. Last July, the jobless rate fell to 7.1%. This marked the lowest level of unemployment in Poland since March 1991, and slightly less than a third of the country’s record unemployment level of 20.7% that was reported in February 2003, according to data from the state-run Central Statistics Office (GUS).

In similar fashion to other Polish meat industry players, ZM Henryk Kania has been making efforts to increase its spending on wages and stabilise its workforce. As of this June, the company had a total of 824 employees, of which 665 were workers employed at its meat processing plant in Pszczyna, in south-western Poland, and the remaining 159 were office employees. In the first half of 2017, an average worker earned about PLN3,100 (€722) per month which represented a 9% increase compared with the same period a year earlier. The company’s office employees earned an average of about PLN5,120 (€1,192) per month which was also 9% higher than their average wage in the first half of 2016.

Exports on the rise​

While domestic sales generate a decisive share of the meat processor’s revenues, at 92% of the total, ZM Henryk Kania has also been increasing its sales to a number of EU markets. In the first six months of 2017, the company exported products worth PLN49.7m (€11.57m) to the EU. This represented 8% of its sales, compared with 5% in the first half of last year.

ZM Henryk Kania specialises in making various pork meat products. These include hams, sausages, frankfurters, pâtés, dry sausages and other products offered under the Henryk Kania and Maestro brands. In the Polish market, the company sells its products through a number of retail chains. These include Carrefour, Lidl, Makro, Kaufland, Netto and Intermarché.

Established in 1990, the meat processor was set up by local businessman Henryk Kania who currently serves as the president of the firm’s supervisory board. Cyprus-based Bogden Ltd is ZM Henryk Kania’s majority shareholder, with a stake of some 60.41%.