Fire destroys Kri Kri dairy unit

The main concern when the fire broke out on Christmas Eve, was the immediate evacuation of the premises. The Fire Department has made every effort to extinguish the fire. Unfortunately, the destruction of the yoghurt unit was inevitable. The ice cream unit remained intact. The amount of the loss has not been evaluated yet.
 

Kri Kri which entered the ice-cream market 10 days ago, has managed after this ten year period to enter with great success the dairy market. Currently it is exporting a variety of dairy products in 17 countries in Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East, with its products being listed in some of the big international Super Market chains, as the mainstream market in each country is the target, apart from the Greek community abroad.

The company’s seat and its main production plant are both located in Serres which is the leading area of Greek milk production, which reaches 40 thousand tons a year. 
The total turnover of the company was 47 million euros for the year 2011 and more specifically the export activity was 22%. Moreover, for 2012 of KRI-KRI exports rose with a rate of 17%, proving the acceptance of the high quality products of the company internationally.  Its yoghurt production equals to 61 percent of its total production, or 36 million euros. 

There are more than 249 employees in the organization of KRI KRI all over Greece.

The company has, apart from the central production facilities and warehouse (chilled for yogurts and desserts / frozen for ice cream) in Serres, its own distribution center in Thessaloniki for servicing the city, as well as in Athens to better serve the whole Southern Greek market. Local representatives all over Greece cover the rest of the Greek territory reaching thousands of point of sales. 

Another production unit and distribution center is also in operation in FYROM (affiliate 71, 15%) which serves the needs of local market. Moreover, Kri Kri has established two affiliated companies one in Bulgaria - Kri Kri Bulgaria and one in Iraq - Kri Kri DLBA Middle East Limited, in order to enhance our presence in the local market and increase our market shares. 

Panagiotis Tsinavos, Kri Kri’s President and CEO, after the fire said that this incident will not affect Kri Kris production or its distribution of dairy products in the coming days. More specifically he stated: "All members of Kri Kri’s family are devastated by the event. Nevertheless, we are determined to move forward. With the support of our people who have demonstrated once again their love and trust in the company, we will succeed. In addition, with the instant support of the dairy farmers of Serres, the suppliers, partners and customers, Kri Kri will be back on its feet in no time. Starting today, we proceed with concerted steps for the dynamic reorganization of our production line in order to meet our customers’ immediate needs and to continue to deliver high value products to our consumers. The fire may have burned our facilities but this same fire has lightened up even more faith, as well as the will and the vision of our people. Thank you all for your support.”

Kri Kri stocks have been suspended from trading at the Athens Stock Exchange as of today, Friday December 27 until further announcements.