Italy-based confectionery giant Ferrero is looking to double its sales in the UK over the next five years.
Christian Walter, managing director of Ferrero’s UK business, told just-food that the company, which makes brands including Ferrero Rocher, wanted to grow its annual sales from the current level of GBP200m.
Walter, who has spent 14 years in various roles at Ferrero and became the head of its UK arm, in 2009, said he saw growth in particular coming from brands like Kinder and Nutella.
“If we talk about market share [in the UK], we are now at around 6%. Our competitors are over 30% – if you take Cadbury and Kraft together – or in the twenties. Obviously our ambition is not in the coming years to get 30% but to be a premium player and we see a possibility to enlarge our business and double sales in the five years to come,” Walter said.
Walter explained that Ferrero saw more growth coming from chocolate spread brand Nutella, which, he claimed, was growing “at double-digits”. Elsewhere, Ferrero sees a “lot of potential” for its Kinder brand in the UK, Walter said.
“If we analyse the portion of our UK sales made up by Kinder, today it is about 25% of our business, whereas in the group it is nearly 50%,” Walter said.
Ferrero is the world’s largest confectioner, behind Mars Inc, Kraft Foods and Nestle. The company, which has 18 plants around the world, generates annual sales of EUR7bn.
For our in-depth interview with Christian Walter, click here.
