Barry Callebaut off to a solid start

ZURICH – Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, reported that sales volume increased by 19.5% to 463,996 tonnes during the first quarter of fiscal year 2013/14 ended November 30, 2013. Excluding the recently acquired cocoa business, the Group's volume growth was +4.6% for the period under review [1].

In comparison, the global chocolate confectionery market expanded by 3.4% in volume. [3] Most regions and all Product Groups contributed to the solid growth, driven by emerging markets (+19.1% stand-alone) as well as the Gourmet & Specialties Products business (+9.7% stand-alone).

Juergen Steinemann, CEO of Barry Callebaut, said: "We have had a solid start into the new fiscal year. Our three key growth drivers - geographic expansion, outsourcing & partnership agreements, and our Gourmet business - have maintained their momentum, with emerging markets and Gourmet delivering particularly strong growth. The integration of the acquired cocoa business continues to make good progress. As of the beginning of the fiscal year, all integration-related workstreams have been transferred into our operational activities and are on track as planned."

Sales revenue was up 22.4% in local currencies (+21.4% in CHF) and came in at CHF 1,515.3 million. On a stand-alone basis, sales revenue grew 6.4% in local currencies (+5.5% in CHF) to CHF 1,317.5 million. This reflects the volume increase as well as higher average raw material prices, in particular for cocoa beans, cocoa butter and milk powder.

Outlook: Targets confirmed
CEO Juergen Steinemann looking ahead: "We will continue to work along our strategic pillars. We are focusing on the successful integration of the recently acquired cocoa business and on further improving our product margins. I am confident we will reach our mid-term financial targets [2] [4]."

Strategic developments
In the first 3 months of fiscal year 2013/14, the following developments were achieved:

Under its strategic pillar "Expansion", Barry Callebaut opened its first chocolate factory in Eskisehir, Turkey. In addition, the company completed the move of its Japanese chocolate factory to Takasaki, near Tokyo, and opened the new regional headquarters for its Region Asia-Pacific in Singapore. Barry Callebaut also inaugurated its 16th Chocolate Academy? center on the premises of its EEMEA headquarters in Istanbul.  

Early September, the EU Commission approved Barry Callebaut's health claim submission on cocoa flavanols, underpinning the company's aspiration to be a leader in "Innovation".  

In response to growing demand in Western Europe and in order to further strengthen its "Cost Leadership" position Barry Callebaut expanded the production capacity of its factory in Wieze (Belgium) by 23,000 tonnes. Further capacity optimizations in the region are under way. 

Regional / Segment performance

Focus on product margins, good growth in EEMEA – Sales volume in Region Europe [5] iNike Schuhe