Probios aims for 125 million turnover and wants to grow abroad

The expansion strategy ofProbios, which on the one hand wants to expand abroad and on the other hand consolidate its strength in the domestic market, continues, with the aim of increasing turnover to 120 million in 2025 from the 100 million estimated for the end of this year

The strategy of Probios - a Benefit company founded 45 years ago and specialised in the marketing of products that are attentive to specific dietary regimes and with a selection of ingredients cultivated mainly in Italy and from organic farming - aims at the growth of more health-conscious consumption, to so-called 'healthy food', and more specifically in the combination of the organic origin of raw materials and products that fall into the categories of 'free from' (i.e. 'without' some nutritional element, such as lactose, gluten, etc.) and 'rich in' (i.e. rich in particular characteristics, think for example of the protein boom).

The growth plans originated in 2023 with the acquisition of Probios by the Agreen Capital fund, an international club deal specialising in the agri-food sector. Hence the rapid expansion plan that led to the acquisition in 2024 of first 100% of Biotobio (with control, among others, of brands such as Baule Volante, Finestra sul Cielo, Fior di Loto and Vivibio of the EcorNaturaSì ecosystem), and then 30% of Bms of Spoleto, specialising in cereals, seeds, pulses and dried fruit.

Investments with a well-defined strategy that focus on organic products at a time when some operators are denouncing the difficulty of overcoming the ceiling of a consumer niche that is perhaps now mature; a trend that is probably aggravated by inflation and the consumer crisis, given the higher average cost of this type of product. "Obviously we believe a lot in the development of healthy food and are ready to seize the various trends, also thanks to the fact that our core business is marketing rather than production, which allows us to be flexible,' comments Andrea Rossi, president of Probios and managing partner of Agreen Capital. 'It is not easy to draw monitorable boundaries for organic food, but 2023 has achieved good results and the first half of this year also recorded comforting results. Furthermore, our strategy aims to unite organic with the entire healthy food category, which is experiencing steady growth'.

Do expansion plans include further acquisitions in Italy? 'The target of 125 million turnover is on a like-for-like basis,' says Rossi, 'but we continue to look around. We could, for example, seize opportunities in the fields of vegetable drinks and breakfast cereal extrudates. But the priority now is to look abroad. We are already present in 47 countries, but for a share of only 5 per cent of our business, which we want to increase to 30-35 per cent. To do this, the way forward is above all to try to aggregate local realities consistent with the target of our portfolio. The Dach area, which includes Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is currently the most interesting.