The chain of pet care stores Arcaplanet closes a complicated year like 2020 going into profit and with an increase in turnover compared to 2019. More specifically, Agrifarma, the company that owns the Arcaplanet brand, has closed 2020 with revenues from sales and services amounted to 339.23 million, an increase compared to the 305.91 million achieved at the end of the previous year. The increase, reads between the lines of the financial statements of the company based in Chiavari (Genoa), is due to both “the purchase of the investment in Arcawip srl, which took place at the end of 2019, to which, in 2020, it was resold the goods purchased by Agrifarma “, and” at the opening of new stores which, albeit only for a few months, contributed to the increase in turnover “. The stores of the chain of pet products, founded in 1995 by the managing director Michele Foppiani, in fact grew by 23 units in 2020, reaching 360 last February, while the acquisition, dating back to November, of the branded company branch Città degli animali has brought five stores in Lombardy as a dowry.
Returning to the income statement numbers, in 2020 Agrifarma, after total production costs of 342.22 million (320.83 in 2019), totaled pre-tax profits of 11.64 million, down to 7.32 million in terms of net profits, against the corresponding loss of 4 million in 2019. The shareholders, and therefore the controlling shareholder Permira, the founder and ad Foppiani and Winch Italia, approved the accounts in the meeting of last May 5, during which they decided to carry forward a large part of the profits and to allocate them to reserves for a small percentage.
The income statement numbers, which are accompanied by a net financial debt which amounted to 71.12 million at the end of 2020, are the background to the recently announced handover in the shareholding structure between the Permira and Winch funds on the one hand and Cinven on the other, with the latter destined to become the new controlling shareholder of the chain of stores.
Cinven has already made it known that, as a next step, it also intends to take over Maxi Zoo Italia, the third largest operator for pet care in the Italian market, controlled by the German group Fressnapf. The combination of Arcaplanet and Maxi Zoo Italia, again according to Cinven’s plans, should give life to the main “pet care” platform, with about 500 stores in our country and online. Moreover, as evidenced by the note with which private equity announced the operation in recent days, “the Italian pet care market, with a value of 3.4 billion euros, is one of the largest in Europe and remains highly fragmented, with significant growth potential “.
Agrifarma itself confirms the development expectations, and that the pet products business is all in all resistant to the crisis. Who in the latest report explains that, “despite the difficulties faced to face the pandemic, the forecasts remain positive. It is expected to continue the growth trend recorded in recent years, without particular negative impacts on the business“.