Almost a decade after a fire destroyed its plant in Preveza, the LAKY company owned by the Papagiannis family has restored its production base and maintained sales close to €16m. However, its 2025 financial results and, above all, the auditors’ observations show that the path to recovery remains complicated.
The producer of pet food and aquaculture feed recorded revenue of €15.79m last year, up 4.3%. Despite the growth, it posted a net loss of €125,000, compared with a profit of €2.3m in 2024. The comparison is affected by a one-off accounting gain of €1.93m recorded in 2024 following a revaluation of property.
Cost of sales rose by 10.4%, the gross margin fell to 20.1% from 24.5%, and the company recognised impairment losses on receivables of €716,000. Operating profit fell to €300,000 from €3.54m.
The composition of revenue is of particular interest. According to the notes to the financial statements, sales to related parties amounted to €12.94m, equivalent to 82% of total revenue. Meanwhile, sales of aquaculture products fell to €1.15m from €1.69m, while sales to markets outside the European Union declined to €1.13m from €1.50m.
The most significant finding, however, is in Grant Thornton’s report. The statutory auditor issued a qualified opinion, noting that the company had not made adequate impairment charges and provisions.
Specifically, the impairment allowance for old trade receivables of €4.95m falls €4.13m short of the required amount. A further impairment of €1.08m relates to a portfolio of listed shares, mainly in Piraeus Bank, carried at a cost of €1.16m against an estimated fair value of just €80,000.
Together with shortfalls in provisions for inventory advances and employee compensation, the quantified differences amount to about €5.86m. The auditor also says it was unable to independently verify loan liabilities of €6.04m.
At the end of 2025, LAKY reported shareholders’ equity of €7.81m and total liabilities of €13.22m. Accumulated losses stood at €4.93m, while cash and cash equivalents had fallen to €250,000 from €774,000. Mortgages and pre-notations of mortgages totalling €38.12m have been registered against the company’s properties as security for bank loans.
LAKY continues to implement the restructuring agreement it signed with its creditors in 2019 and which was ratified by the courts in 2020. Management, led by Nikolaos Papagiannis, says it is complying with the agreement’s terms and is seeking to regain the market share it lost after the 2017 fire.