Visy jumped seven places to top this year’s IBISWorld Top 500 Private Companies list. 7 Eleven and Murray Goulburn completed the top three. The next seven were: Warehouser, Co-operative Bulk Handling, construction group BGC, food manufacturer Teys Australia, transporter Linfox, The Hospitals Contribution Fund, miner Hancock Prospecting, and retailer The Good Guys.
Visy began in Melbourne in 1948, now also operates in the US and has plans to expand into Asia. It has 9600 employees across the group. The sales of the combined group this year will be $4.8 billion, up from $4.1bn last year.
Anthony Pratt, chief executive officer and chairman of Visy, stated that his company’s lift in sales this year is due to continued strength in the primary packaging market, thriving Australian exports resulting from greater mill production, and solid results from Visy’s US operations.
Visy’s five to seven year plan, Pratt stated, includes increasing turnover to $10bn when, for the first time, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation will be more than $1bn (They are currently estimated to be $750m+). Visy also plans to build its Asian revenues to about 20% of the business, by installing manufacturing plants in several South East Asian countries. It currently uses a Singapore trading company to meet local demand.
Murray Goulburn’s number 3 position represents revenue of $2.9bn, largely due to increasing exports of its dairy products. Last year it sat at 17.
Linfox’s $2.6 billion in revenues last financial year (up 4% on 2012-2013), kept it as Australia’s largest private transport operator.
The company reported a 11.2% increase in staff to 27,800 over the year to June 30 and it moved nine positions up in the rankings, from 15 last year.
Part of Linfox’s growth can be attributed to aggressive expansion in Asian markets over the past few years, but Australian operators are also growing both revenues and staff numbers.
There were four companies other than Visy from the printing and packaging industries in the Top 500:
Australia’s second biggest printer, IPMG, was placed 114, up from 119 last year, with $400m revenue and 1297 employees.
Adelaide packager, Detmold Group, sits at 132, up from 150 last year, with revenue of $372.5m.
Blue Star Group, debuted at 245, with $209.1m in revenue and 900 employees.
Labelmakers Group Victoria, sits at 401, with $111.83m in revenue and 247 employees.
Two food companies improved their own positions in the top 20.
“We enjoy the fact that we are the masters of our destiny.” [PFD Food Services chief executive, Kerry Smith].
PFD, a family-run food distribution business took the number 14 spot with revenue of $1.43 billion. Smith added that the challenge now is to keep growing. “We are always seeking to bring new customers on board but also working with our current customers and looking at how we can sell more to them … we are focused to continue growing that top line in sales. Going backwards is not acceptable.”
PFD has tripled its growth and revenue over the past 10 years. According to Smith, this has been by acquisition and organic growth. “Our strategy had been to become a national organisation, which we finally achieved last year when we made an acquisition in the Northern Territory. Prior to that, we had a little gap in the market. Over the last 10 to 15 years we have expanded outside of Victoria to every other state and then Darwin was that last piece in the puzzle. We can get to 98 per cent of the population through our distribution network now, which we see as an advantage.”
Smith noted that it is important the company stays ahead of market trends and is prepared for a change in people’s tastes. “We supply everything we can according to our customer needs,” she says. “It is an endless need from our customers. They are looking for innovation and they are looking for a point of difference. It is a nice industry to work in that regard.”
Murray Goulburn took out the third spot in 2014 with revenue of $2.9bn. Increasing exports of its dairy products pushed it to a podium finish, after sitting at number 17 last year. IBISWorld tips that the food production sector will continue to thrive as it benefits from similar demand trends to agriculture industries — the burgeoning middle classes of Asia are demanding more Australian products.
