WESSANEN FORESEES STRONG PROFIT GROWTH Dutch dairy and general foods manufacturer Koninklijke Wessanen NV <WESS.AS>, said it is planning further world-wide acquisitions and forsees strong profit growth over the next 10 years. Company chairman Gerrit van Driel told journalists at the presentation of Wessanen's 1986 report he already expected 1987 first quarter profits to show an increase. The company last month reported a 16 pct increase in 1986 net profits to 72.7 mln guilders, after 62.3 mln in 1985. This was achieved despite a 25 pct drop in the dollar's guilder value, van Driel said. Van Driel said profits would have been nine mln guilders higher if the US currency had remained at its average 1985 level of 3.20 guilders. Turnover, at 3.7 billion guilders in 1986, was 450 mln guilders down because of the lower dollar and lower raw material prices. Total 1985 turnover was 4.2 billion guilders. US activities accounted for 34 pct of 1986 turnover, compared with 22 pct in 1982. Wessanen now has 15 separate businesses in the US out of a total of 62 world-wide. Van Driel said the company would continue an active takeover policy in the US, but would be wary about paying more than its current price/earnings ratio of 17 times net profit. He added that Wessanen teams were seeking acquisition possibilities in Brazil, Taiwan, Thailand and China. He said the company had an ample cashflow of 100 mln guilders and would if necessary make new share issues. Van Driel said he expected a 1987 US turnover of 700 mln dlrs. He said <Balanced Foods> and <Green's Dairy>, taken over late last year, have a combined annual turnover of 126 mln dlrs which was not included in the 1986 account. All sectors saw strong growth in 1986, resulting in a 13 pct increase in operating income to 120 mln guilders. Key to this growth was the successful introduction of new products, which were greatly enhanced by a number of consumer-oriented US acquisitions, van Driel said. Consumer products represented 50 pct of total 1986 turnover, compared with 35 pct in 1982, van Driel said. The company, which is already listed on the London, Zurich, Basle and Geneva stock exchanges as well as Amsterdam, aims to be quoted in Frankfurt and Dusseldorf in May, van Driel said. Van Driel stressed that while these listings would not be accompanied by new share issues, they provided easy vehicles for the company to raise capital for future expansion. He estimated that 33 pct of the company's shares were in foreign hands. The company's 1986 US turnover of about 750 mln dlrs made a listing on one of the New York exchanges a logical next step, van Driel said without elaborating. Despite EC dairy restrictions Wessanen, which produces around 10 pct of all Dutch cheese, saw good growth prospects for its dairy sector within Europe, van Driel said.