The Finnish firm is confident its ingredients arm will make more money next year after reporting today that turnover for the year was down from 2006, from €49.7m to €44.9m. This was due to smaller volumes in French and German markets and "seasonal fluctuations," it said.

Sales in Turkey were damaged because health claims were not allowed to be used, the firm said.

Last year Raisio made several moves to gain further control of its cholesterol-lowering premium ingredient Benecol, which is sold by a number of other firms worldwide under licence.

Raisio was given back more rights from its partner McNeil for the use pf plant stanol ester and the Benecol brand. This allowed the firm to expand in new directions. Last year also saw the firm enter into an agreement with Unilever, which will bring to an end any patent disputes between the two firms.

Ingredient operating result for the year has, however, gone up. The operating result improved by 21.8 per cent to €9.5m. This was put down to business reorganization.

A restructure was brought into play towards the end of the year which saw Raisio Nutrition Ltd and Raisio Benecol Ltd become the newlyformed Raisio Nutrition.

The firm said it is still preparing to enter into the Asian market and earlier this year Raisio's Indian partner started test marketing of a nutritional powder containing Benecol in India.

"Raisio aims to be an active player in the growing market for cholesterol-lowering functional foods in Europe, Asia and North and South America by providing the markets with innovative product applications. The target is to put business on a growth trend," Raisio said.

Total turnover was still highest in Finland which accounted for more than half of the total turnover of €421.9m. The second biggest market for Raisio is the Russian market, turnover €39.5m.

Historic

Raisio has said 2007 was an historic year for the food industry.

Chief executive Matti Rihko said: "The long-term trend in which the prices of renewable raw materials decreased steadily and food accounted for an increasingly small share of households' consumption expenses turned in the opposite direction. There were two reasons for this change. Approximately half a billion people in Asia improved their income level. In particular, the increased demand for meat and milk products raised the demand for grain used in feed. Another significant factor was the increased use of biofuel."

The price of grain slowed the profitability of the food division, Raisio said, and it hopes to strengthen its market position in Finland and the Baltic Sea region next year.

For the October to December period turnover was reported as €50.3m but operating result was down to €-2.7m for the final quarter. Operating result for the year was still down at negative €11.1m - but this was an improvement on 2006's effort which saw cash plummet to €-37.9m.

Feed and malt

This section's turnover was up 15 per cent from the previous year. This was put down to Raisio passing on the costs of rising raw material prices to its consumers.

Turnover for the year was €206.7m - up from 2006's €179m. Operating result for the year was up from last year's €7.4 m to €14.2m.

Raisio spent €6.4m, 2.4per cent of turnover, on research. The focus in foods moved to product development based on consumer needs. Value-added products accounted for some 30 per cent of the turnover in Finland in 2007, the firm said.