COVID-19 - UPDATE ON THE SITUATION
VILMORIN & CIE IMPLEMENTS THE MEASURES NECESSARY TO COPE WITH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND IS MOBILIZED TO CONTINUE ITS ACTIVITIES, THE BASE OF THE FOOD CHAIN
VILMORIN & CIE SUSPENDS ITS OBJECTIVES FOR 2019-2020
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to bring new upheavals every day, Vilmorin & Cie's top priority is focused on the health and safety of its employees, customers and all its stakeholders. Since the beginning of this crisis in Asia, Vilmorin & Cie has been deploying all the necessary sanitary and organizational measures recommended by the governmental authorities in each of the 50 countries in which it is directly established.
Vilmorin & Cie's second priority is to ensure the continuity of its activities too. In the specific context of this crisis, Vilmorin & Cie's role as a seed company is fundamental. Seed, the first link in the global food chain, is a crucial activity: its role is essential to ensure food security today and especially tomorrow. In this respect, many countries have reaffirmed the strategic nature of the food and agriculture sectors, enabling companies in these sectors to continue their activities in a deteriorated environment.
Vilmorin & Cie's teams are therefore fully mobilized to ensure the implementation of business continuity plans in each of the Business Units. All employees who have the possibility of doing so are obliged to work from home.
To date, almost all the industrial sites and research centers continue to be operational. Vilmorin & Cie is thus able to package its seeds and deliver them to farmers and distributors in Europe and elsewhere in the world. Everything is therefore being done so that Vilmorin & Cie's end customers, farmers and growers, can carry out spring sowing to produce the basis of tomorrow's food: vegetables, corn for human and animal consumption, sunflower, etc.
As a result of this, and given its strategic nature, Vilmorin & Cie's business still remains dynamic to this day. However, due to the rapid and constant evolution of the health crisis and the lack of visibility it is generating, Vilmorin & Cie is not in a position, at this stage, to measure its impact on its financial performance. Consequently, Vilmorin & Cie is obliged to suspend quantified objectives for fiscal year 2019-2020, as they were confirmed - subject to the impact of the evolution of the world health situation on the economic environment - at the time of the presentation of its half-yearly results for 2019-2020.
Furthermore, Vilmorin & Cie has already launched the necessary actions to control its operating expenses and all its industrial investments as far and as quickly as possible in this new context.
It should also be remembered that Vilmorin & Cie benefits from a solid financial situation and has the cash and financial resources necessary to ensure the potential consequences of the pandemic.
Vilmorin & Cie will take stock of the situation again when it discloses its sales at the end of the third quarter 2019-2020, on April 23rd.
COMING DISCLOSURES AND EVENTS
Thursday April 23, 2020(1) : Disclosure of sales at the end of the 3rd quarter 2019-2020
Monday August 3, 2020(1) : Disclosure of sales for fiscal year 2019-2020
Wednesday October 14, 2020(1) : Disclosure of results for fiscal year 2019-2020
Friday December 11, 2020 : Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in Paris
Dates provided as an indication only, and liable to be changed.
(1) Disclosure after trading on the Paris Stock Market.
FOR ANY FURTHER INFORMATION
Vincent SUPIOT
Chief Financial Officer
Valérie MONSÉRAT
Head of Financial Communication and Investor Relations
Tel: + 33 (0)4 73 63 44 85
Vilmorin & Cie, the 4th largest seed company in the world, develops vegetable and field seeds with high added value, contributing to meeting global food requirements.
Accompanied by its reference shareholder Limagrain, both an agricultural cooperative owned by French farmers and an international seed group, Vilmorin & Cie’s strategy for growth relies on strong, sustained investments in research and international development to durably strengthen its market shares on promising world markets.
True to its vision of sustainable development, Vilmorin & Cie ensures its achievements fully respect its three founding values: progress, at the heart of its beliefs and its mission, perseverance, inherent to farming and the seeds business, and cooperation, in the fields of science, industry and commerce.
Attachment
