April 16 (SeeNews) - German dairy company Meggle Group will close down its production plant in Shumen, northeastern Bulgaria, and will terminate the contracts of some 95 employees as part of restructuring of its operations in Southeast Europe, the company's Bulgarian unit said on Friday.
"Meggle Group took this hard but necessary decision after thoroughly studying various options," Meggle Bulgaria said in an e-mailed statement.
As of October 1, Meggle will operate in Bulgaria under a changed business model but will not exit the local market and will continue to offer its products in the country, according to the statement.
The continuing coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the restructuring process, Meggle Bulgaria noted.
Last year, Croatian food company Belje Plus, a member of Fortenova Group, signed an agreement to buy the local production capacities of Meggle. Fortenova said on December 31 that it has taken over the Osijek-based dairy production plant of Meggle and as of January 1, 2021 Belje Plus would continue dairy production in Osijek, employing 88 workers.
According to the most recent financial report of Meggle Bulgaria available on the website of the country's commercial register, the company swung to a net profit of 402,000 levs ($246,300/205,500 euro) in 2018, from a net loss of some 1.7 million levs in 2017 as its sales revenue rose to 31.8 million levs from 29.5 million levs.
Meggle Group has been active on the Bulgarian market since 2009. The group, headquartered in Wasserburg am Inn, has production sites, sales offices and agencies in 25 countries around the world.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)