Last September, Liquidseal raised another €1.7 million via NPEX to expand its organization and accelerate its processes. This Dutch company makes coatings to extend flowers, fruits, and vegetables' shelf lives. Last week, this listed company reported an unavoidable reorganization. "It's extremely unpleasant," managing director Victor Monster states in a response to this site. "But the market is somewhat slower to accept the idea than we'd hoped and planned. We, thus, have to let several people go."
In its executive statement, the company notes that 2023 was particularly challenging. Rose sales showed no recovery, and the market is slow to accept the fruit product. "Our company has its origins in the rose market. That's our so-called backbone. From there, we developed the fruit coating. We used most of last year's funding specifically to accelerate its development. But that's not happening, so we're now gearing down slightly. We'll have to rely more on the long run," says Victor.
"We invested in the organization to realize this acceleration. The market, however, is hesitant and isn't embracing these coatings as quickly as the time and energy we've put into them deserves. It's paramount that, despite this round of redundancies, we retain enough clout to stay active in our most important markets. For India, Mexico, Kenya, Ecuador, and Colombia, that certainly is still so. We're juggling lots of balls at once. But there will be fewer of those as we return to basics for a while."
"While several retailers enthusiastically bought our products, these sales were insufficient to delay these measures. Our budget was significantly backlogged, and that was worsening every month. That threatened our continuity and forced us to take extreme steps. A substantial round of layoffs is the only way to reduce costs significantly; that will happen at the end of August," the director explains, adding that ten people will be affected.
Nevertheless, Monster remains positive about the long term. "Considering the market trends, we're on the right track with our fruit coatings. Combating food waste is an important issue, and the legislation surrounding plastic packaging, for example, is in our favor. We're, therefore, definitely optimistic about the future. In the fruit and vegetable category, we see the best results for avocado, mango, and citrus."
"Of course, it could be used for other fruits and vegetables, but European laws and regulations restrain us. We, for instance, don't yet have permission for our cucumber product. That, while we have a perfect application for it which we already use in Mexico and America. We'll have to be patient before we get the green light. Liquidseal's future is undoubtedly bright," Victor concludes.
For more information:
Victor Monster
Liquidseal
Schuttersveld 9, 2316 XG
Leiden, the Netherlands
Email: [email protected]
www.liquidseal.nl