Danone has booked an increase in third-quarter sales as the French dairy group lapped product recall issues that hit its business in Asia last year.

The company said reported sales rose 3% in the three-month period, climbing to EUR5.42bn (US$6.85bn). Organic sales grew 6.9%, beating consensus expectations of a 5.8% increase.

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The gains were primarily driven by a rebound in sales at Danone’s infant nutrition business in Asia. 

Danone was forced to issue a consumer-facing recall of infant formula in the region last August due to a recall from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra of an ingredient – concentrated whey powder – that was thought to be contaminated with a botulism-causing bacteria. While it transpired the scare was a false alarm, Danone’s sales in markets including China plummeted.

Danone reported a 19.2% increase in third-quarter sales at its infant nutrition unit, driven by 9.9% volume growth.

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“This excellent performance was buoyed by very favourable bases for comparison across all eight Asian markets,” the company said. “Sales in most of these markets now back to pre-crisis levels.”

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However, issues at its fresh dairy unit persisted. The group revealed like-for-like sales grew by just 0.7% as higher pricing offset a 7.1% fall in volume.

Danone reaffirmed its full-year forecasts, with like-for-like sales expected to rise 4.5-5.5% and trading operating margin expected to remain “stable”, within a range of a fall of 20 basis points to an increase of 20 basis points.

Click here to view the filing from Danone.