Wimm-Bill-Dann, Russia’s leading dairy, juice and baby food produce has produced a strong first half with revenues up by over 40% and earnings per share growth from US$1.06 for the same period last year to $1.50.
In a statement the company said EBITDA increased 40.3% to US$147.2m whilst operating cash flow increased 31.3% to US$110.3m. Net sales were $1,147.8m.
“I’m very pleased with the excellent results we achieved during the second quarter and first half of the year as our business segments delivered a healthier sales mix and solid volume growth,” said Tony Maher, chief executive officer of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC. “Our group sales for the quarter increased a record 40.8 % over the prior year period to $605.0m driven by strong organic growth, which generated 31.7% of total revenue growth while acquisitions contributed 9.1%. We are also pleased with the continuous improvement in our gross margins for the quarter and first half of the year despite an extremely challenging cost environment worldwide for raw materials. This is a significant achievement and a credit to our cost management efforts.”
Maher said sales in the dairy division increased 43.4% to $858.4m year on year, significantly exceeding industry growth rates, with gross margins expanding to 30%.
He said: “We continued to make meaningful progress in our beverages division turnaround strategy, achieving revenue of $212.1m for the first half of the year, an increase of 29.6%, with gross margins expanding significantly to 40.8% as compared to 33.8% in the prior year period.”
Baby food revenue increased a solid 40.7% for the first half of the year to $77.3m with gross margin improving to 45.3%.
“I am pleased with the continued successful execution of our long-term strategy and am confident in our plans for the full year and our ability to continue to deliver sustainable growth across all business units,” Maher said.
