Lindt & Sprüngli accelerates growth

Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG, Kilchberg, further accelerates its growth rate and confirms yet again the sustained positive developments of recent years. With a high, double-digit sales increase in Swiss francs of 17.2% to CHF 983.4m and organic growth in local currencies of +14.8%, Lindt & Sprüngli has once again grown faster than the overall market and is winning market share in all its markets and segments. The excellent growth in sales during the first half of 2006 has seen operating profit rise by CHF 9.8 million to CHF 15.5m, while the semi-annual net income has increased by CHF 6.0 million to CHF 9.9m.


The increase in sales has primarily been driven by a strong +11.6% increase in volume together with the combined effects of price increases and product mix, which contributed 3.2%. All the Group"s companies contributed to this excellent growth and hence gained market shares everywhere. Developments in the world"s three largest chocolate markets - the USA, Germany and the UK - were again extremely encouraging due to a further expansion of distribution and more rapid product rotation at outlets. A late Easter and the rather cool spring weather in many important countries also had a positive effect on chocolate sales. Lindt & Sprüngli"s sales in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, England and Spain rose between 10% and 20%. Lindt s companies in France, Austria and Poland, as well as Caffarel, also enjoyed encouraging single-digit growth rates substantially above the market average. In Sweden, the new Lindt & Sprüngli marketing company founded in 2005 made a very encouraging start. In the USA and Canada, the premium chocolate segment has been growing faster than the overall chocolate market owing to the positive economic conditions in these countries and, to a considerable extent, the efforts made by brnads "Lindt" and "Ghirardelli". At more than 20%, the growth rate achieved by the three North American companies combined are well ahead of the market average and translate into a substantial gain in market share.