More profit from interest than from meat – new ratios of Pick Szeged’s results

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 05. 30. 11:59

The operations of Pick Szeged Zrt. were characterized by seemingly modest growth in 2024, but looking behind the numbers, a specific trend that has been going on for years is clearly visible: the company earns more on its financial operations than on the production of meat products. Last year, the after-tax profit was 6.7 billion forints, a significant part of which – almost 4 billion – came from interest income.

Stable sales revenue, moderate growth

The net sales revenue of the meat company’s domestic sales increased to nearly 62 billion forints in 2024 from 60 billion the previous year. Minimal growth was also registered on export markets: sales revenue of 23.2 billion forints was recorded instead of 23.1 billion in 2023. Overall, the company’s total net sales revenue increased from 83 billion to 85.2 billion forints.

Wage pressure and rising personnel costs

A rising trend can still be observed on the operating cost side. Wage costs increased by more than 600 million forints compared to 2023, reaching 9 billion. Together with other personnel payments and contributions, the company spent a total of 12.3 billion forints on its employees, which means increasing pressure on the production side.

Interest-bearing strategy – the role of investments

In the case of Pick, it is not a new, but still unusual phenomenon that income from financial operations exceeds the result of operating activities. This trend became particularly spectacular in the high interest rate environment of 2023 and continued in 2024: the returns on investments again exceeded the profit from the core meat industry activity.

This indicates that the company has significant liquid financial reserves and is effectively investing them. This approach is safe, but in the long term it may raise questions about the profitability of the core business, i.e. the production of meat products.