Barry Callebaut, the world’s biggest chocolate manufacturer, is cautious about the faltering global economy, despite growth in its final-year profits, announced today (10 November).
Net profit for the Swiss-based company, which makes chocolate for food groups such as Nestle and Kraft, was CHF176.8m (US$195.1m) for the fiscal year ended 31 August, compared to CHF 251.7m in the same period last year. However, this figure is skewed by the non-recurring loss of CHF82.1m for the discontinuation of its European Consumer Products business.
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EBITDA was up 14.2% to CHF14.3m, while sales volume rose 7.2% to 1.29m tonnes. The company said the weakening of various currencies against the Swiss franc, currently very strong as investors abandon the euro, negatively impacted both sales revenue and operating profit, which went up by 15.3% in local currencies (5.7% in CHF) to come in at CHF360.6m.
Juergen Steinemann, CEO of Barry Callebaut, said the company delivered on its targets and is “proud” of its performance in emerging markets, but remains pensive about the future thanks to the wider economy and high commodity costs.
“We expect the global macroeconomic and financial environment to remain rather fragile and volatile,” he said.
“We assume the chocolate confectionery and gourmet markets will grow further next year, but at a lower rate of 1% to 2%. Raw material prices will stay rather high and remain volatile.”
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