Increased turnover, decreased profit for Barry Callebaut

Swiss-Belgian chocolate giant Barry Callebaut, number one worldwide, has had mixed results in the first half of its fiscal year: net profit dropped 18.5 %, despite a 5.6 % turnover increase.

Higher volumes and prices

Barry Callebaut’s turnover reached 3.4 billion Swiss francs (3.1 billion euro) in those six months, up 5.6 % (in Swiss francs) or 11.7 % (in local currencies). Higher volumes and higher prices helped boost turnover: volume growth (at 4.5 %) easily outpaces the industry’s pace, which even shrank 2.6 %. Cocoa pricing in the first semester also grew 4 % because of weaker harvests in the Ivory Coast, Brazil and Indonesia.

Barry Callebaut achieved volume growth in all of its regions: + 6.5 % in Europe (while the local market dropped 2.2 %), +13.4 % in America (while the local market dropped 3.7 %) and +12.6 % in Asia – Pacific (while the local market dropped 1.7 %).

Strong Swiss franc

However, the strong Swiss franc dampened the company’s joy: operational profit remained level (- 0.3 %) when considering local currencies, but in Swiss francs it went down 8.4 % to 200.7 million Swiss francs (185 million euro). Net operational profit reached 107.9 million Swiss francs, a 12.5 % drop in local currency and an 18.5 % drop in Swiss francs.

The board stood by its long-term forecast (until 2017-2018), which means it wants to achieve an annual 4 to 6 % volume increase.