Lactalis has filed dozens of sets of accounts for companies in the group with the French equivalent of the companies' registration office in the past two weeks, the first time the company claiming to be Europe's largest milk processor has complied with this legal obligation in many years.

Figures available so far include those for Groupe Lactalis, the highest-level entity to publish its accounts in the organisation's complex web of international companies. It posted €2.4bn in sales in 2016 and an EBITDA of just €22.8m or under 1%. Figures for the previous two years show a sharp decline in sales and profits during the milk price crash of 2015 and 2016.

Other companies in the group posted several hundred-million euro in sales each, and no consolidated set of accounts is available. Lactalis is also known to route some financial flows through Luxembourg. Overall, the group claims a €17bn annual turnover and the figures published so far account for only a small portion of this.

A privately held company controlled by the family of its chair Emmanuel Besnier, Lactalis was under pressure to release its accounts under new French legislation on transparency in the food value chain.

A company spokesman pledged to comply with the publication obligation when pressed by French senators at a parliamentary hearing last month.

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