The Management Board of AB Linas Agro Group submits the issue of changing the company’s name to the shareholders for consideration at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 27 October. If the shareholders approve the new name, AB Linas Agro Group will become AB Akola Group.
Today, AB Linas Agro Group operates one of the largest agri-food groups in the Baltic States, comprising 69 subsidiaries and two associates and employing over 5,000 people. The group’s companies produce, process, and sell agricultural and food products and supply goods and services to farmers, with a total annual revenue of EUR 2 billion.
“Activities of our group of companies started with rapeseed exports. For more than three decades, we have been expanding our activities in the field of agricultural services, supplying farmers with products for crop and livestock production, and exporting the produce they grow. In 2013-2014, we moved into food production by acquiring poultry companies in Latvia and started to identify ourselves as a group with vertical integration across the food chain. Over the last two years, we have strengthened our position in the food sector through acquisitions: in 2021, we acquired AB Kauno Grūdai, Vilnius and Kaišiadorys poultry companies and some other companies in Lithuania, and in July this year, we acquired Grybai LT, a cooperative producer of ready-to-eat food. Today, our activities span the food production chain from the field to the table, which is why we want our name to be a universal one that encompasses the broad spectrum of our activities,” notes Darius Zubas, Chairman of the Board of AB Linas Agro Group.
The Akola brand is known to AB Linas Agro Group investors and shareholders – Akola ApS, registered in Denmark, is the main shareholder of the company, holding 68.23% of the shares.
“The name “Akola” encapsulates the message “Authentic Knowledge Of the Land’s Alphabet” and reflects our group’s experience, identity, and activities. We are steadily expanding our activities along the entire food production chain, that starts with land and farming, but we see increasing prospects in the development of food production- particularly in the development of new food products and brands and their establishment in markets in Western Europe and further afield. We plan to expand our food production activities by investing in new, sustainable, modern food plants with innovative technologies,” notes D. Zubas.
If the shareholders approve, the company’s new name will have to be registered at the State Enterprise Registrų Centras with the new articles of association and later at the Nasdaq Vilnius Stock Exchange. The name change process could last until the end of 2023.
AB Linas Agro, a subsidiary of AB Linas Agro Group, and its daughter companies will continue to use the ‘Linas Agro‘ brand.
