Barry Callebaut: Maintaining strong top-line growth

Barry Callebaut AG announced its key sales figures for the first three months of fiscal year 2009/10, ended November 30, 2009. In an environment that continues to be characterized by economic uncertainties, Barry Callebaut succeeded in growing its sales volume by a strong 7.2% to 362,973 tonnes. According to the company, all regions and – on a like-for-like-basis – all product groups contributed to this growth. The most significant volume increases were noted in Region Asia (+ 17.7%), Region Americas (+ 15.6%) and in Global Sourcing & Cocoa (+ 14.0%). Sales revenue increased by 6.3% in local currencies, but was severely impacted by adverse currency translation effects. In Swiss francs, the company’s reporting currency, it came in at CHF 1,450.2 million (+ 1.5%).

Juergen B. Steinemann, CEO of Barry Callebaut, said: “We are very pleased about our significant sales volume growth in the first three months of our current fiscal year. After a volume contraction of the global chocolate market by more than 2% in the past fiscal year in the wake of the worldwide economic crisis, we believe the decline has bottomed out and expect the global chocolate market to remain flat in volume terms in 2010. We attribute our own success in this tough economic environment to the ongoing implementation of previously signed outsourcing deals, the strong sales performance of our Gourmet & Specialties products as well as market share gains in all regions. Based on our proven growth strategy, our order book and despite the still unfavorable combined cocoa ratio, we are confident that we will continue to significantly outperform the global chocolate market and be able to achieve our three-year financial targets.”

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