Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt en Zaadhandel generated a net turnover of 340 million euros in the 2014/2015 financial year, representing a 9% increase compared to the previous year. Virtually all crops and almost all countries in which the Dutch family-owned company is active contributed to the growth.

Among other things, the worldwide turnover growth can be attributed to the rising demand for high-quality vegetable seeds. Rijk Zwaan develops varieties for 25 different vegetable crops and sells the seeds in more than 100 countries. The operating profit for the 2014/2015 financial year showed a slight increase of 3% compared with the previous year. The higher net profit is almost entirely due to positive foreign exchange results.

As an independent family-owned company Rijk Zwaan has a clear long-term vision. It reinvests the majority of its profit back into the enterprise. In the 2014/2015 financial year, 110 million euro were invested in Research and Development – equating to almost 30% of the turnover. The majority of that investment was made in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is regarded as an excellent base for the company thanks to the country’s political stability, good infrastructure, high level of education and the government’s R&D-incentives. On 1 January 2015 Rijk Zwaan established a new subsidiary in South Africa, bringing the total number of foreign subsidiaries to 32. Furthermore 124 new employees joined the company in the past year, including 60 in the Netherlands. All new employees immediately received a permanent contract, illustrating Rijk Zwaan’s commitment to sustainable employer-employee relationships.

Rijk Zwaan expects to continue to grow in the future, partly thanks to the expanding world population. Alongside the development of varieties suitable to the various climate zones and to local consumer preferences, the company also devotes a lot of attention to sharing knowledge. This underlines its aim to contribute to the further development of the horticulture sector and to an increase in global vegetable consumption. In the years ahead, the company plans to invest in expanding its Dutch R&D facilities and its production facilities in Mexico and Tanzania.