Chocolate manufacturer The Barry Callebaut Group has posted flat sales (+0.1%) for full year 2017/18 in local currencies, reporting sales of CHF 6.9 billion for the period.
Sales in Swiss francs were up 2.3%, the group noted.
Sales volumes at the business increased by 6.3% to over two million tonnes in the year to end 31 August 2018, which was ‘significantly above the growth rate of the global chocolate confectionery market (1.8%)', according to the group.
Growth was driven by strong contributions from all key growth drivers, such as emerging markets (9.1%), gourmet & specialties (7.7%) and outsourcing (5.6%).
Global cocoa achieved a solid volume growth of 3.9%.
Profit Gains
Gross profit improved by 17.2% in local currencies (+20.7% in CHF) to CHF 1.15 billion (€1.01 billion). This increase was driven by volume growth and a better product and customer mix across all Regions and Product Groups.
“I am delighted to announce a set of very strong results. The consistent execution of our ‘smart growth’ strategy enabled all our Regions and Product Groups to contribute to top- and bottom-line, delivering on our mid-term guidance,” CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique said.
“The continued execution of our ‘smart growth’ strategy, good visibility on volume growth and healthy global demand give us confidence that we are well on track to achieve our mid-term guidance.”
Barry Callebaut’s sales volumes in region Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) increased by 6.8% to 925,144 tonnes while the chocolate confectionery market grew by 1.9%.
In Western Europe, sales volume growth was strong as a result of good growth within both food manufacturers and gourmet.
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