On the back of strong financial results, Sweden's Cloetta Fazer Group says it is about to invest in modernising its production facilities in Finland and Sweden in an effort to increase efficiency.
Having announced that the company's quarterly profit margins were up 5 percent, it said that starting this autumn it plans to invest SK 150 (€16.4m) in measures to raise production efficiency and output.
The investment plans are in line with the company's new production strategy. The first step will involve construction of a new line for wafer products in Ljungsbro, Sweden, where the sugar coating capacity will also be extended. In Vantaa, Finland, the company will build a new line for filled chocolates which is scheduled for completion in autumn 2004.
"This will be our most ambitious investment programme for upgrading of production efficiency in many years. The programme is entirely consistent with our new strategy to increase specialisation of the production units and our established focus on the key brands. The investments will boost our production capacity and efficiency, since parts of our manufacturing operations are currently operating at the limit,'' according to Cloetta Fazer CEO Karsten Slotte.
The Cloetta Fazer Group is the Nordic region's largest confectionery company, with a market share of 22 per cent. The company has production facilities and sales companies in Sweden, Finland and Poland, a partly owned sales company in Norway, representation offices in the Baltic countries and sales agencies in the other markets. Cloetta Fazer's strength lies in its many popular brands, such as Fazer Bla, Kexchoklad, Dumle, Geisha, Polly and Center. The average number of employees is just over 2,000.