	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 years company chairman gerrit van driel told journalists at the presentation of wessanen s report he already expected first quarter profits to show an increase the company last month reported a pct increase in net profits to mln guilders after mln in this was achieved despite a 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 level of guilders turnover at billion guilders in was mln guilders down because of the lower dollar and lower raw material prices total turnover was billion guilders us activities accounted for pct of turnover compared with pct in wessanen now has separate businesses in the us out of a total of 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 ings ratio of 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 mln guilders and would if necessary make new share issues van driel said he expected a us turnover of mln dlrs he said balanced foods and green s dairy taken over late last year have a combined annual turnover of mln dlrs which was not included in the account all sectors saw strong growth in resulting in a pct increase in operating income to 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 pct of total turnover compared with pct in 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 pct of the company s shares were in foreign hands the company s us turnover of about 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 pct of all dutch cheese saw good growth prospects for its dairy sector within europe van driel said reuter 
