FDBusiness.com

Barry Callebaut Group – the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate and cocoa products increased sales volume by 2.2% to 1,834,224 tonnes in the year ended August 31, 2016, outperforming the global chocolate confectionery market which declined by 1.7%.

Sales revenue rose by 8.8% in local currencies and by 7.0% in Swiss francs to SFr6.677 billion (Eur6.17 billion), partly driven by a better product mix and overall higher sales prices over the entire fiscal year. Operating profit (EBIT) at SFr401.7 million was basically flat in local currencies but down 3.2% in Swiss francs. As anticipated, this year’s profitability was affected by the challenging cocoa products market, but also by restructuring costs related to the manufacturing footprint and a negative currency translation effect. Overall the Group’s EBIT per tonne decreased by 2.0% in local currencies and by-5.2% in Swiss francs.

Net profit for the year decreased by 5.1% in local currencies to SFr219.0 million (–8.7% in Swiss France). This is a reflection of a higher tax rate and one-off costs related to issuing a new bond in spring 2016.

Antoine de Saint-Affrique, chief executive of the Barry Callebaut Group, says: “I am pleased to see that our focus on ‘smart growth’, which is a balance between volume growth, enhanced profitability and free cash flow generation, starts to get traction. We delivered strong growth in our chocolate business across all regions, supported by our three key growth drivers and despite a sluggish global chocolate confectionery market. In our Global Cocoa business, we deliberately phased out less profitable contracts. Good profitability in our chocolate business was offset by a challenging cocoa products market, as anticipated. We also see the results of our increasing focus on free cash flow generation.”