LDC (''Lambert Dodard Chancereul'') is the largest poultry meat group in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. LDC carries out 578 million animal slaughters per year. The total revenue amounted to

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5.1 billion in 2021/22. The company is

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ed in

Sablé-sur-Sarthe Sablé-sur-Sarthe (, literally ''Sablé on Sarthe''), commonly referred to as Sablé, is a commune in the Sarthe department, in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. It is about 50 km northeast of Angers. Population Geography The Va ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and operates 93 production sites in five European countries.

History

The company was founded in 1968 as a merger of the family business ''Lambert'' based in Sablé-sur-Sarthe and ''Dodard-Chancereul'' based in Saint-Denis-d’Anjou. In 1970, the company expanded and opened a poultry slaughterhouse in Sablé-sur-Sarthe. In the 1990s, LDC took over the

convenience food Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily por ...

company ''La Toque Angevine''. In 1995, LDC went public at the

Euronext Paris Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined marke ...

and conducted the first international

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with ''Hermanos Saiz'' from

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. Subsequently, the French company started an international

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. Among others, the company took over the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

company ''Drosed'' in 2000, the Hungarian ''Tranzit'' group in 2018, and the British poultry company ''Capestone Organic Poultry'' in 2021. LDC also expanded in the French

poultry farming Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chicke ...

and took over multiple Competition (economics), competitors. In 2018, LDC took over parts of the Insolvency, insolvent Groupe Doux, and in 2022 the company ''Matines'', one of the leading French egg producers, from the ''Avril'' group. In 2022, LDC was struck by the historic outbreak of influenza A virus subtype H5N1 in France that lead to the culling of more than 12 million birds. The company had to shut down four slaughterhouses. The executive management was passed from Denis Lambert to Philippe Gélin in 2022.

Structure

With more than 578 million animal slaughters per year, LDC is the largest poultry meat company in France and Europe. Further business areas are the production of pork, beef, rabbit as food, rabbit meat and eggs as food, eggs. The company is structure in the three divisions: Poultry, International and Catered-Food. 60% of the revenue is generated in France, where LDC has a share of 40% on the poultry market and 50% in the market for chilled delicatessen. The international revenue was generated to large parts in Poland (67%), followed by Hungary (22%), Belgium (6%) and the United Kingdom (4,5%). The company also serves the Germany, German market via the sites in Poland.

Sales

LDC markets its products under a number of brands, among others ''Le Gaulois'', ''Maître Coq'' and ''Marie''. LDC also supplies chicken as food, chicken to McDonald's.

Shareholders

Around 70% of the shares are owned by the Family, families Lambert (39.2%), Chancereul (17.3%), Huttepain (8.86%) and Guillet (3.89%). Around 13% are in public float, the other shares belong to white-collar workers, to the Sofiprotéol group and to the cooperative ''Agricole Fermiers de Loué''.

Controversies

After an analysis of chicken meat samples in 2020, Germanwatch criticized that 57% of the samples from LDC were contaminated and 45% of the samples were found featuring antimicrobial resistance against drug of last resort, drugs of last resort.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Food and drink companies established in 1968 French companies established in 1968 Poultry companies Intensive farming Meat companies of France Companies based in Pays de la Loire Companies listed on Euronext Paris