Danone's successor in Russia continues to rebrand products
MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - H&N, formerly Danone's Russian subsidiary, after rebranding Activia and Actimel, has now rebranded its plant-based drink Alpro.
"Alpro plant-based drinks have been localized on the Russian market under the new name Planto. The changes will only affect the brand name," the company said in a press release. The Planto brand product line will remain the same, with two basic consumer lines and two lines of drinks for professional use: Barista and Aroma.
Localization of the brand began in 2021 with the launch of the first 100% plant-based drinks at production facilities in Labinsk, Krasnodar Territory, the press release clarifies.
Previously, the company announced that the Activia brand would be rebranded ActiBio, and Actimel would become Actimuno.
As reported, on July 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the transfer of French Danone's Russian business, Danone Russia, to the Federal Property Management Agency under temporary management. It received 100% of Danone's Russian business (83,292,493,000 shares of Produits Laitiers Frais Est Europe and 85,000 shares of Danone Trade). Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Chechen Republic, Minister of Agriculture Yakub Zakriev was appointed general director of the companies. He succeeds Charlie Cappetti, who had been CEO of both companies since April 2017.
On September 20 of this year, Danone Russia JSC was renamed H&N JSC (H&N, as in 'Health & Nutrition'), and Danone Trade was renamed H&N Trade.
According to the SPARK-Interfax analytical system, the revenue of Danone Russia in 2022 increased to 92.9 billion rubles from 85.1 billion rubles a year earlier, and net profit decreased to 5.6 billion rubles from 8.9 billion rubles. Danone Trade's revenue in 2022 was 112.7 billion rubles against 109.9 billion rubles in 2021, while net profit totaled 612.7 million rubles against 1.4 billion rubles, respectively.
French Danone in October last year announced the transfer of control in its Russian dairy products business. There were many contenders for the purchase of the business, including large Russian food producers.