Solid First Half By Danone
Danone has reported solid first half like for like sales growth of 3.8% to €11.05 billion with recurring operating income up 11.5% to €1.478 billion. Indeed. Like for like sales growth accelerated to 4.1% in the second quarter. The French food and beverage giant also achieved a strong improvement in recurring operating margin up 93 bps to 13.37% in the first half.
Danone’s Early Life Nutrition and Medical Nutrition businesses both achieved like for like sales growth of 6% or more in the first half with the former up 6% to €2.495 billion and the latter rising by 6.8% to €787 million. The Fresh Dairy Products business increased like for like sales by 2.6% to €5.377 billion while the Waters business rose by 3.2% to €2.393 billion.
Emmanuel Faber, chief executive of Danone.
Emmanuel Faber, chief executive of Danone, comments: “With organic sales growth above 4% in the second quarter and a very strong improvement in margin and EPS this semester, Danone demonstrated once again its capacity to successfully rebalancing its growth model and transforming its way to operate to deliver immediate key priorities while ensuring progress on its journey towards Strong, Sustainable and Profitable growth by 2020. We continue to implement our agenda to transform the company and increase the resilience of our business model.”
He adds: “With fast-evolving dynamics in some emerging markets and an environment that remains complex, we are sticking to our priorities and the Q2 results reflect key steps in our journey, notably in Dairy with confirmed success in the US and sequential improvement in Europe. It is the case, as well, in Early Life Nutrition with significant progress in sustainable channels.”
