FDBusiness.com

Russian dairy, food and beverages group Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods increased net income by 7.1% year-on-year to US$69.5m on revenue up 17.1% to US$1.26b for the first six months ended June 30th 2010. EBITDA rose marginally to US$159.7m from US$158.3m in the same period of 2009.

The revenue increase was driven by volume growth in the group’s dairy, beverages and baby food segments and favorable pricing across all segments. Group revenue in rubles increased 6.6% versus the same period a year ago. However, gross margin declined 400 basis points to 29.9% as a result of the continued pressure of raw milk costs in the first six months of 2010.

Tony Maher, chief executive of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods.

“Our performance continues to be strong, with significant improvements in market share across our dairy, beverages, and baby food segments, as demand resturns back to levels we have not seen since before the global economic crisis,” says Tony Maher, chief executive of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods. “However, we continue to face the challenges in raw milk procurement, which adversely impacted our gross margins in the dairy segment in the second quarter. Despite some temporary input difficulties, we are favorably positioned across our segments to achieve our objective of expanding profitability through efficiency gains and a greater share in high value categories.”

Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods is the market leader in dairy products and children’s food in Russia and one of the leading players in the market for non-alcoholic drinks in Russia and the CIS. The group operates more than 35 production facilities in Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia.