Shares in Barry Callebaut, the business-to-business chocolate giant, rose in early trading this morning (1 April) despite the company reporting mixed half-year results.
The Swiss group posted a 1.6% rise in net income to CHF145.7m (US$139m) for the six months to the end of February.
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However, Barry Callebaut’s EBIT was down 4.5% at CHF208.8m due to a “lower combined cocoa ratio” – or the combined sales price for cocoa butter and cocoa powder relative to the cocoa bean price.
The group’s EBIT was also hit by the negative impact of the Swiss franc and because the company was lapping a gain from last year’s disposal of a business in Asia.
Nevertheless, turnover was up 4.5% to CHF2.66bn on the back of “ongoing strong” volume growth. Volumes rose 7.8%.
Barry Callebaut, which said the global chocolate market had shown signs of recovery in the early weeks of 2010, stuck to its full-year targets.
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By GlobalDataThe chocolate maker is targeting an average 6-8% rise in annual volumes between 2009/10 and 2011/12. The company also has a goal of recording EBIT “at least in line with volume growth”.
Shares in Barry Callebaut, which opened at CHF681, rose to CHF685, before falling back to CHF683 at 10:13 CET.
Click here for the full earnings statement from Barry Callebaut and check back later for coverage of the company’s media conference in Zurich.
