Swedish confectioner Cloetta suffered a loss in the first fourth months of its fiscal year as a result of lower sales and increased marketing expenditure.
Cloetta, which is planning to merge with Dutch rival Leaf International, saw profits after tax slump 41.6% to SEK14m (US$2.1m) in the four months between 1 September and 31 December. Operating profit fell 39.3% to SEK20m. Sales in the period slid 11.8% to SEK364m.
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“The overall drop in sales during the period is partly due to weaker development in the service trade,” said Cloetta CEO Curt Petri. “Furthermore, the previous year’s sales included sell-in volumes of the then newly-launched Tarragona bars.”
He added: “In addition, this year we have chosen to lessen our focus on filled chocolate boxes. Earnings were also affected by increased marketing investments, above all in Norway.
The company said it aims to launch several products under the Kexchoklad, Sportlunch and Pops brands in the first quarter of 2012.
Cloetta published its first-quarter results in December, in which it reported that net profit for the three months to the end of November had dropped 28.1% to SEK23m, also on the back of lower sales and higher spending on marketing.
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By GlobalDataHowever, the results have been restated to include December 2011, after a decision was taken to change the company’s financial year following the merger.
