Irish-Swiss food group Aryzta has reported a fully year underlying loss of €18m, compared to a profit of €74m reported this time last year.
Aryzta, which makes McDonald's burger buns and Cuisine de France bread, said its revenue for the year was down 13.4% to just over €2.9 billion.
It noted that revenues in Europe fell by 12.7%, while they were down 11.8% in North America and fell by 3.5% in the company's "Rest of the World" operations.
Aryzta - which has just undergone a number of boardroom changes - said the pandemic had a material impact on its performance during the year.
Last month a group of activist shareholders at the embattled company succeeded in their efforts to bring significant changes to the board.
Shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting in Switzerland voted out chief executive Kevin Toland from the board of the company.
However, Mr Toland remains on as CEO. Shareholders also voted in Urs Jordi as the new chairman of the board, to replace Gary McCann.
Aryzta is in advanced talks with US hedge fund Elliott about a potential takeover.
In its results statement, Aryzta said it was seeing a gradual sales improvement with monthly revenue falling by 18% in July compared to falls of 23% in June, 36% in May and 49% in April.
Noting that Covid-19 has impacted the lives of people across the world, Aryzta CEO Kevin Toland said it had also strongly impacted the company's results.
But he said that while prioritising the health and safety of Aryzta's staff, customers and suppliers, the company has been able to navigate the company through these "challenging times".
"Up until 15 March trading patterns were in line with previous guidance. However, when the Covid-19 consequences became visible, we took decisive action to protect the business and our cash resources," the CEO said.
This included pausing production in bakeries to reduce capacity in line with demand, laying off some staff, availing of government relief initiatives, suspending capital expenditure and reducing discretionary cost where possible.
"As a result we finished the year with a strong overall liquidity position. While we expect the recovery to be bumpy in the coming months, we believe that Aryzta is well-positioned to recover and compete as economies stabilise and return to growth," Mr Toland added.
Aryzta Chairman Urs Jordi said that Covid-19 has had a material impact on the company's full year results, but he said it has kept a strong liquidity position through the crisis and at the end of its fiscal year.
"We will explore all strategic options available, internal and external, acting in the best interests of Aryzta and its stakeholders, and in this process we will continue to evaluate all unsolicited expressions of interest received," Urs Jordi said.
"I am fully convinced that Aryzta has great potential and we will do our utmost to put the company back on the road to success," he added.
Aryzta said that due to the high degree of uncertainty related to the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it can not give precise earnings guidance at the current time.
"It is clear as the pandemic persists, Covid-19 will have a material effect on FY 2021 underlying EBITDA generation. Aryzta continues to expect a bumpy recovery in the market over the coming months," it added.
Shares in the company were little changed in Dublin trade today.
