Barry Callebaut Growing Twice as Fast as the Market
Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high quality cocoa and chocolate products, grew twice as fast as the global chocolate market in the first half of its 2010/11 fiscal year, ended February 28th last: Sales volume at the Swiss confectionery group increased by 7.1% to 706,570 tonnes, while the global chocolate market grew by 3.6%. Emerging markets and cocoa products for strategic partners were the main growth drivers.
However, the strong Swiss franc affected the overall results both in terms of sales revenue and profit level. Sales revenue rose by 3.1% to SFr2.74b (Eur2.1b) but in local currencies grew by 13.2%. Due to good cost control as well as a favorable combined cocoa ratio, Barry Callebaut achieved significant operational improvements. Operating profit (EBIT) was up by 4.0% to SFr217.1m (+11.4% in local currencies) and net profit rose 9.0% to SFr158.8m, and by 17.1% in local currencies.
Juergen Steinemann, chief executive of Barry Callebaut.
“Once again, we managed to significantly outperform the global chocolate market by growing twice as fast. We are pleased that our growth was particularly strong in emerging markets. All strategic product groups showed good momentum, resulting in double-digit profit growth in local currencies,” comments Juergen Steinemann, chief executive of Barry Callebaut.
He adds: “In recent months, we faced a challenging political situation in Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s most important cocoa growing country. In order to avoid supply problems we have put in place a contingency plan and stepped up our sourcing and production activities in other countries. We believe we have taken those steps necessary to enable us to honor our customer contracts and meet our commitments during 2011. However, our primary concern during this difficult time is the safety and welfare of our employees and everyone living in Cote d’Ivoire. We remain committed to the cocoa farming communities and hope for a peaceful resolution of the current situation.”
Barry Callebaut is confident that its good performance in the past six months will continue in the second half of fiscal year 2010/11 despite the challenging situation in Cote d’Ivoire. Barry Callebaut expects to surpass the average market growth rates and is therefore confirming its four year financial guidance.
