The reborn AGNO will celebrate its first birthday as soon as possible, with the response of consumers in Northern Greece, where the products of the historic dairy brand are sold, to be positive.
In fact, from next year we will see PURE milks, yogurts, desserts, butter and colognes in the supermarkets of Attica, as well as the rest of Greece. But we will not see PURE ice cream.
“AGNO continues to rise” said the managing director of the Hellenic Dairies group, Stelios M. Sarantis, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new halloumi factory of the Sarantis family in Nicosia, noting that in the first half of 2025 the distribution of the products of the northern Helladic brand to expand to the rest of Greece.
A PURE year
It is recalled that last November, exactly ten years after the lockout of the emblematic dairy industry in 2013 in the heart of the financial crisis, AGNO products were returned to the market by the Hellenic Dairies group under whose “umbrella” are leading brands such as Olympus, Tyras, Rodopi, Doumbia and Kliafa.
The management of the Trikala group chose for the crash test of the revival of the brand to proceed with a limited placement, starting with the refrigerators of supermarket chains, grocery stores, pastry shops and mini markets in the prefecture of Thessaloniki, as well as in another 10 prefectures of Central and Western Macedonia.
The AGNO brand portfolio includes a total of 21 milk codes (whole, light, lactose-free and chocolate), yogurts (strained, cow’s and traditional), milk desserts (creams and rice milk), butter, but also dairy products, such as kefir and Ariani.
AGNO products are currently produced by the Hellenic Dairy factories in Trikala and Larissa, with the milk, however, coming from the greater area of Thessaloniki, as there is cooperation with cattle farmers from Lagadas, Sochos, Pentalofos and Nea Apollonia.
The plans for the factory
About the property in Lagadas with a total area of 132,239 sq.m. where the AGNO factory is located, which together with the brand became the property of the group in 2022 through an auction and for a price of 7.73 million euros, Mr. Sarantis stated that the group is in the planning phase for its productive use if necessary . “If volumes go up, the factory may have to be used,” he noted.
However, there is still no definitive plan, so the three-year-old group has not arrived at how much funds are required for the re-operation of the production unit.
The new investments will mainly concern mechanical equipment since it has been damaged being in disuse for 10 years, while the building potential is in relatively good condition, according to Mr. Sarantis.
It should be noted that AGNO’s industrial property is considered to have many advantages, as it is located next to Egnatia Odos and close to cow breeding units, while the group does not have a production unit in Thessaloniki, only a distribution center.
The ice cream is coming back
However, the production of ice cream products under the AGNO brand is not included in the group’s immediate plans.
“Ice cream needs investment. It’s a big thing. Another network and freezing infrastructure is needed” pointed out Mr. Sarantis, “maybe in the future we will examine it”, he added.
At the moment, Hellenic Dairies is the only one of the major dairy companies that does not have a presence in the ice cream category. Kri Kri, as you know, produces ice cream, DELTA re-entered the category with the acquisition of Cold Sin, while the Philippou family, which owns FAGE, has a presence in the ice cream category with the company EMFI.
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