Author: Dominique Vidalon
PARIS (Reuters) – French food group Danone beat third-quarter sales expectations on Thursday, helped by higher sales volume as price increases slowed and a reflection of mighty demand in North America for high-protein products, coffee whitener and water.
The world’s largest yogurt maker maintained its 2024 sales growth forecast of 3% to 5%, with moderate improvement in recurring operating margin.
“We are confident that we will be able to fulfill orders in this corridor, even if consumer confidence is a bit weak,” said Chief Financial Officer Juergen Esser.
The maker of Activia yogurt, Evian water and Aptamil baby milk reported third-quarter comparable sales growth of 4.2% to 6.826 billion euros ($7.36 billion), above analysts’ expectations of a 3.9% raise on a company basis. agreement.
Sales volume increased 3.6% in the third quarter, compared to the 2.9% raise expected by analysts surveyed in the company’s consensus.
The company raised prices by 0.7% during this period, less than the previous quarter’s raise of 1% and less than the 0.9% of the consensus.
“The market was particularly focused on volumes in the third quarter, which bodes well for Danone today,” Bernstein analysts said in a note.
Consumer goods companies such as Danone, Nestle and Unilever (LON:) price rises are slowing after three years of keen increases following the Covid-19 pandemic, as buyers hit by the cost of living crisis turn to cheaper, off-brand options.
Nestle last week cut its full-year organic sales growth forecast to around 2%, following weaker-than-expected nine-month sales growth.
($1 = 0.9275 euros)
