Groupe Bel

Bel is a French dairy group.

Company History

The company was founded in 1865 as " Établissements Jules Bel " in Orgelet in the French Jura. In 1929 the first branch was opened in the UK, followed by others in 1933 in Belgium and 1959 in Germany.

Since the 1960s, Bel has internationally expanded rapidly and acquired numerous dairies. First in Europe and the U.S. since the late 1990s increasingly also in North Africa. Meanwhile, the Group operates 22 production facilities worldwide and has operations in 120 countries. The Bel Group is organizationally divided into four geographic regions: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Americas and International.

Bel employs nearly 9000 workers. The sales totaled approximately 2.03 billion euros, pre-tax profit 119 million euros in 2004. With a production of around 285 600 tonnes of cheese Bel is a leading manufacturer of processed and fresh cheese.

Shareholders

On 31 May 2010 the company's shares were distributed as follows:

• Unibel and proportions of families Bel / Fiévet: 71.24 %. Unibel is an umbrella holding company whose principal business is the Bel Group. It was established in 1999 producing carbonic acid from the company La Carbonique Fiévet the family, which is involved since 1970 in Bel, was in course of time become the single largest shareholder of Bel and 1987 through the acquisition of Bel- family holding SFPE the majority shareholder.
• Lactalis: 24.06%
• Treasury shares: 0.56%
• Other shareholders: 4.14%

Brands

Many renowned brands have been integrated into the company: for example, the Allgäu Eagle Precious Cream ( 1989) and the coming of the Netherlands Leerdammer ( 2002).

Other brands of the company are Babybel, Mini Babybel, La vache qui rit, Kiri, Apéricube (Party Cubes, Belcube, Cheese & Fun) and Adler - precious cream, Bonbel, Boursin, Cantadou, Cousteron, Gervais, Karicka, Kaukauna, Limiano, Maredsous, Merkts, Picon, Port Salut, Prices, Regal Picon, Samos, Smetanito, Sylphide, Syrokrem, syrtos, Terra Nostra, Wispride (2009).