The Savencia Company
Profile
Focused on specialty cheese and dairy produce, Savencia Fromage & Dairy is one of the leading milk processors in the world.
With a presence on every continent, it develops high-added-value products and services suited to the consumption habits and peculiarities of its various markets.
Cheese products
World leader in specialist cheeses and branded soft cheeses.
2nd largest French cheese producer, specialising in branded cheeses. 5th largest group worldwide.
Other dairy products
Consumer markets
Leader in France and Belgium in modern butters and long-life cream.
Catering professionals, hotels and restaurants
As technical partner for catering professionals, the group delivers high quality solutions, combining practicality, speed and ease of implementation through products with appropriate packaging and shelf-life.
Industries
World leader in technical butters. Specialist in nutritional and functional ingredients derived from milk.
- 18 911 employees
- 4,1 billion litres of milk processed
Savencia Fromage & Dairy shares are quoted on the Premier Marché of the Paris Stock Exchange
- 2015 turnover : €4 442 million
- Current operating income : €151,9 million
- Net income, Group share : €57 million
History
In 1956, Jean-Noël Bongrain created Caprice des Dieux and with it a whole new market: speciality cheeses.
These modern, consistently high-quality cheeses were designed for mass distribution and promoted by strong brands, backed by major advertising campaigns.
The business grew rapidly. New specialities were launched, such as Tartare, Chaumes, Rambol, Saint Albray, and so on. The company took over other cheese producers in France to increase production capacity. It developed the export side and between 1962 and 1971, set up commercial subsidiaries in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the USA.
From 1975, the group began to establish itself overseas industrially. Group Bongrain acquired businesses in Brazil (1975), the USA (1976), Spain (1978) and Australia (1981).
In the 1990s, the group strengthened its presence in Latin America and set about conquering central and eastern Europe, where it has become n°1 following some twenty acquisitions since 1993.
Bongrain is also present around the Mediterranean, in Egypt (2000), and has established bridgeheads in the major markets of tomorrow including India and China (1999).
In 1992, Group Bongrain took over operational management of Compagnie Laitière Européenne (CLE), which has strong positions in markets with very high consumption of Camembert, butter and cream through leading brands like Elle & Vire and Cœur de Lion. CLE supplies a wide variety of products to industry (agri-food industries, dietetics, cosmetics and healthcare) and professionals (catering, food service).
With major, excellent quality dairy resources, CLE also holds an undisputed technological lead in the fractionation of milk fat and the extraction of highly specific proteins and minerals.
In 2003, the Group strengthens its portfolio with the acquisition of Edelweiss, and the Bresso, Milkana and Brunch brands in Germany, and five years later, in 2008, Passendale in Belgium.
In 2008, “La Compagnie des Fromages and RichesMonts” (CF&R), in partnership with Sodiaal, develops its flagship brands like Le Rustique, Cœur de Lion and RichesMonts. These brands are sold in France, as well as exported throughout Europe and worldwide.
The “Responsible Milk Sourcing” program is developed in 2011 with milk producers to reduce the environmental footprint of dairy production and to improve dairy farms productivity, whilst respecting the countrysides and animal welfare.
With the founding of “Fromageries Lescure”, in partnership with Terra Lacta, the Group becomes the second largest goat milk collector in France in 2013.
New butter, cream and ingredients plants have also been added, complementing the Group’s butter portfolio with the Charentes-Poitou, Lescure and Surgères PDOs.
In 2015, the Group changes its name to become Savencia Fromage & Dairy. The new identity symbolizes the Group’s unique range of flavors and specialties, its ever innovating know how and its international ambition.