Earnings growth from the consumer goods arm of Norwegian conglomerate Orkla slowed during the second quarter of the year due to weakness from its Baltic business and “economic decline” in Russia and Austria.

Orkla said EBITA from its Orkla Brands division, which includes food and consumer-goods businesses in the Nordic region, a food ingredients arm and international operations in Europe, Russia and India, rose 3% to NOK657m (US$104.8m) during the three months to the end of June.

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During the first quarter of 2010, Orkla Brands saw EBITA climb 19.5%, meaning that over the first six months of the year, EBITA was up 10% at NOK1.28bn.

Orkla Brands’ slowdown in profit growth was due to a number of factors, the conglomerate said.

Orkla pointed to the “negative impact” of the timing of Easter, lower profits from Norwegian food business Stabburet and a “somewhat weaker” performance from its Baltic operations.

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Orkla Brands International, which includes the group’s FMCG businesses in central and Eastern Europe, Russia and India, made a second-quarter EBITA loss of NOK15m.

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Orkla said “economic decline” in Russia and Austria had hit the division’s results over the first half of 2010.

Russia’s chocolate market saw “weak growth”, while rising raw-material prices, particularly for cocoa, weighed on margins.

However, Orkla’s MTR Foods business in India, from which the company is looking for a sales boost between now and 2012, enjoyed “good sales growth” during the first half of the year.

Second-quarter revenues from Orkla Brands as a whole fell 4% to NOK5.44bn and were down by just under 2% for the first half of the year to NOK10.84bn.