Sofiprotéol becomes Avril

In 2015, the Group adopted a new governance and a new organization to ensure its lasting independence and to reinforce the presence of the farming world at the heart of its growth strategy. The Group now became structured around its two activities: on the one hand, a manufacturer, on the other, an investor.

To mark the occasion, it became Avril. With this name evocative of spring, the period in which rapeseed flowers, the Group expresses its mission: create sustainable value in the oils and proteins sector to contribute to better food for humans and protection of the planet.

In 2016, the Group adopted a new strategic plan to drive its development in France and internationally until 2020. Called “Avril 2020” and established in close collaboration with the farming world, this plan focused on competitiveness and international growth, in a spirit of innovation and based on strong human assets. Its two main challenges were proteins and Africa.

In 2019, another farmer, Arnaud Rousseau, took over from Xavier Beulin as CEO of Avril Gestion. The following year, Avril Campus, the Group’s new emblematic site, was opened in Brittany.

Avril is pursuing its international expansion, particularly in Africa, entrusting its Moroccan subsidiary Lesieur Cristal with the development of its consumer goods activities on the African continent. This will be demonstrated in 2021 with the opening of the Oleosen soap factory in Dakar, Senegal. This structuring operation is designed to accelerate the Group’s growth and reinforce its internationalization, in line with the priorities of its strategic plan.

In 2018, forward-looking work was carried out in each of the Group’s activities to look to the future and identify priorities. The result was the “Avril 2023” strategic plan. It follows on from and continues the previous plan: development of specialties and innovation, continuation of the Group’s consolidation and transformation, conquering new markets and geographic regions.

The main new feature is the definition of a CSR framework, called SPRING, integrated into the Group’s strategic and financial management. It confirms Avril’s sustainable development commitments. This CSR frame also completed the Group’s membership, in 2017, of the United Nations Global Compact.

Avril is pursuing its innovation policy. To this end, the Group has secured a 50 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank to finance research into plant protein and bio-based materials in 2021.

The Group’s development is focused on 5 activities, in line with its strategic plan and international ambitions.

The Group continues its innovation path, in particular in the field of biofuels. In keeping with this, in 2018 it launched Oleo100, the first 100% plant-based fuel. Made from rapeseed, it provides a response to the energy transition challenge for road transport and local authorities by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60%, for a similar cost to diesel.

Between 2015 and 2019, Oleo strengthened its plant chemistry division. First, in 2015 the Group acquired The Kerfoot Group, a British company specialized in distributing and packing oils, mainly for the food industry, but also for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Avril also acquired Novastell in 2017 and Lecico in 2019, both specialized in lecithin and phospholipids.

In the same period, in 2016, Evertree was created. This joint venture, founded in 2016 with the SPI investment fund and start-up Biopolymer Technologies, designs and develops adhesives from plants. It thus contributes to producing materials completely free of volatile organic compounds, which are harmful to health and the environment.

Despite being a top priority since 2013, the Group prevention and safety policy could not prevent a tragic accident in 2018 on the Saipol industrial site in Dieppe. Consequently, Avril again stepped-up prevention and safety on its sites.

Avril innovates and makes acquisitions to expand its offering to farmers, in particular livestock farmers. The Group acquired the Brazilian animal nutrition company, Salus, in 2016, followed by Ewabo, a German biosecurity leader.

In 2017 Avril created Sojalim, a facility for crushing French soybeans to reinforce its production capacity for the animal sector. The Group thus set up a local, traced and non-GMO alternative to imported soya, mainly from Brazil.

In the same year, the Group launched the FeedMarket digital solution, a marketplace for the purchase of protein-rich meal for livestock.

In a circular economy approach, Avril and Suez joined forces in 2019 to create Terrial, leader on the French organic fertilizer and compost market. In 2020 Saipol launched the OleoZE digital solution to allow farmers to promote their seeds from sustainable farming practices. It thus encourages them to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, in line with Group CSR objectives.

The period involved continuing international development for the human food sector. This was particularly true in Africa, and more specifically Tunisia, where a rapeseed sector was introduced in 2016. Going beyond human food alone, every link in the value chain is concerned, from the field to the bottle of oil, and including rapeseed meal for animal nutrition.

Concerning consumer brands, in 2015 the Group became the majority shareholder of Société de Production des Huiles de Bourbon (SPHB). This strengthened its position on Reunion Island and developed its presence in East Africa and the Indian Ocean. In 2018, Avril also acquired Costa d’Oro, Italian leader in the production and distribution of top-quality olive oil in Italy and worldwide.

To accompany growth of the French market more specifically, in 2016 Avril set up a new Lesieur production facility. Situated in Bordeaux-Bassens (southwestern France), it specialized in bottling and packaging vegetable oils.

Finally, in 2020 Avril and Dutch group DSM finalized their partnership agreement and launched their joint project to produce and market rapeseed protein isolate via the creation of a joint company, Olatein. This strategic alliance is part of an ambitious industrial project to create a new sector for human food protein.

Avril also invests upstream, capitalizing on its leadership in oilseed crushing and seed purchasing. The Group was joined by the SPI fund, managed by Bpifrance, to create Prolein, a company dedicated to building a rapeseed preparation and pressing facility. The Group will also supply Olatein with the raw material required for extraction: non-GMO protein-rich fat meal from the new crushing facility that will be created on the site.

In 2016, Avril launched the Sofiprotéol Dette Privée fund for the agribusiness and agrifood sectors. This loan fund, managed by Tikehau IM, is intended to finance the development of companies of all sizes in the agribusiness and agrifood sector through bullet payment loans or leveraged acquisition financing. It is a complementary financing tool to those already used by Sofiprotéol.

The Group still has the unique economic model that has been its strength since its creation through redistributing value for the benefit of the sector. Through its activities, Avril contributes to the growth of a sustainable, innovative and future-focused oil and protein sector, upstream to downstream.

On May 10, 2021, Avril revealed its purpose: “Serving the Earth”. As an extension of the Group’s historic mission, this purpose takes the shape of six commitments which help to meet two major challenges: climate change and population growth.

Faced with these challenges, it is more important than ever for Avril to play a role in supporting the agricultural, food and environmental transitions. Building on its experience and presence in the markets of the future, the Group is making a strategic shift with the aim to become the leader in plant processing solutions for human food and animal nutrition and to protect the planet.