ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — EBITDA within the Food North America division at Aryzta A.G. increased 19% to €176,291,000 ($227,650,000) in the year ended July 31, up from €148,673,000 in the same period of fiscal 2011. Revenue in the division rose 13% to €1,372.4 million ($1,772.4 million).

Arzyta said EBITDA benefitted from positive underlying revenue growth and good margin expansion.

“The underlying organic growth in North America was very strong, reflective of progress on deepening customer relationships and increased availability of a broader range of products to North American customers,” the company said. “The performance also benefitted from stronger consumer spending trends in North America compared to Europe.”

Aryzta noted that it is “well advanced” in terms of operating on a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, and more work will take place during fiscal 2013 to leverage this investment and increase returns.

“During the year, new executive management and refocused sales teams have been appointed,” the company said. “The objectives driving these changes remain delivering improved customer centric metrics and leveraging growth opportunities in the region through increased sales penetration levels.”

Total Food Group EBITDA totaled €374,826,000 ($484,035,000) in fiscal 2012, up 16% from €322,312,000. Sales rose 11% during the year to €2,867.6 million ($3,703 million).

“Aryzta’s performance in FY 2012 was satisfactory given the challenging macro environment,” said Owen Killian, chief executive officer. “Weak consumer spending affected our customers, and the impact of government austerity measures was particularly noticeable in Europe. The business performance reflects the benefits of good progress on implementing internal transformation measures designed to better support our customers. This will continue throughout FY 2013.”