French dairy company Danone has reported that it achieved consolidated sales of €6,454 million in the third quarter of the year, representing a 4.7% increase.
This brings the company's consolidated sales for the first nine months of the year to €18,582 million, up by 2.1% on a like-for-like basis.
“As expected, Danone has posted accelerated sales growth in the third quarter," said CEO Emmanuel Faber.
"This reflects the strength of our portfolio of cohesive consumer health-focused brands and a solid execution against our strategy, with a step-up in innovation and activation plans."
Group Performance
Danone's essential dairy and plant-based unit reported a 2.3% decrease in sales in this quarter, which it attributes to a double-digit fall in sales in Brazil.
However, the Alpro brand continued to deliver strong momentum in the quarter, driven by growth in the dairy-alternative category.
The group's specialised nutrition business saw sales increase by 17.8%, reflecting accelerated growth in China, as well as the company's portfolio expansion.
Meanwhile, its waters business posted a strong acceleration in sales growth, increasing by 6.2% in volume and 1.4% in value.
Outlook
For full-year 2017, Danone expects to deliver double-digit recurring earnings per share growth of more than 12% at a constant exchange rate.
The company says that it will continue to prioritise initiatives and resources to accelerate growth and improve margins. Last month, Danone announced that it was investing in organic baby-food start-up Yooji.
“Our trading performance in the first nine months illustrates the progress of our growth and efficiency agendas, which enables us to confirm our guidance for 2017,” said Cécile Cabanis, Danone's chief financial officer.
“We will continue to be agile and disciplined in our resource-allocation process to ensure short-term delivery, transformation for the long term, and sustainable value,” said Cabanis.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
