Swiss dairy group Emmi has reported a 4.3% year-on-year increase in sales, to CHF 2.1 billion (€2.2 billion), in the first half of its financial year.
This growth comprised an organic sales increase of 6.5% and a negative currency effect of 2.2%, Emmi added.
Net profit for the period amounted to CHF 97.8 million (€102.3 million), while EBIT amounted to CHF 138.5 million (€144.9 million).
'Tremendous Commitment'
Ricarda Demarmels, CEO of the Emmi Group, said, "Thanks to the extremely focused work and tremendous commitment demonstrated by our teams, we are pleased to show the improvement we were striving for after a challenging year in 2022 and report a good half-year result in 2023.
"Despite a persistently difficult market environment, we were able to inspire with our innovations, differentiated concepts and strong brands such as Emmi Caffè Latte, consistently develop our portfolio in line with our strategy, and continue our long-standing sustainability work with focus and discipline."
Emmi has reaffirmed its medium-term guidance and confirmed its outlook for EBIT (CHF 275 million to CHF 295 million) and the net profit margin (4.5% to 5.0%).
The company expects full-year organic sales growth in the range of 3% to 4%.
Divisional Performance
Emmi's Swiss unit generated net sales worth CHF 856.8 million (€896.3 million) and registered organic growth of 6.0%, driven by the good performance of its brands, such as Emmi Caffè Latte, Emmi Energy Milk, Jogurtpur and Aktifit in the fresh products segment and Gerber and Luzerner Rahmkäse in the cheese segment.
The Europe division reported organic growth of 2.0%, with sales amounting to CHF 337.7 million (€353.3 million), reflecting the challenging economic environment.
Its performance was boosted by factors such as sales of Emmi Caffè Latte and Bettinehoeve goat’s cheese, while it was impacted by the cheese export business in Switzerland and goat’s milk powder business in the Netherlands.
The American business generated sales worth CHF 848.5 million (€887.6 million) and saw organic growth of 9.6%.
The company's dessert business in the USA and the market in Chile performed well after a decline in sales in the previous year due to operational delivery difficulties, Emmi noted.
