Top story
Danone has outperformed market expectations in a “strong” first half as its turnaround took hold.
Net sales reached €13.8bn (£11.6bn), climbing 4% on a like-for-like basis, with volumes jumping 2.1% and registering growth in each of the French group’s categories.
Volumes in the second quarter increased 2.9% and came in well above analyst expectations, with price hikes continuing to slow significantly (up just 1%).
In Europe, like-for-like sales rose 0.7% to €2.4bn in Q2 and by 1.7% to €4.8bn in the first half, led by “good” performances by Actimel and Alpro.
Its essential dairy and plant-based products category registered a sales increase of 3.1% in the six months to June, with the baby formula division up 4.3% and waters rising 6%.
Operating profits at the group jumped 7.9% year on year to €1.8bn.
CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique said: “We have delivered a strong performance for the first half of the year, demonstrating consistency in delivering quality growth.
“We keep driving our category growth, further fueling our winning platforms high protein, medical nutrition, coffee creations and away-from-home. We also remain focused on driving our core portfolio, as reflected by the progressive strengthening of our competitiveness across categories.
“We continue rebuilding our fundamentals, doubling down on Renew Danone, and have established solid foundations for the ‘next chapter’ of our consumer centric and science-based strategy.”
Morning update
Profitability continued to improve at Just Eat Takeaway in the first half thanks to cost cutting.
Half-year adjusted EBITDA increased more than 40% year on year to €203m.
Gross transaction value (GTV) increased 3% to €8.4bn, excluding North America, which declined by 9%.
In the UK and Ireland, GTV increased 6% and a lower delovery cost per order following a simplification plan saw adjusted EBITDA improved by 64% to €92m.
Total revenues at the group slipped from €2.58bn to €2.57bn.
CEO Jitse Groen said: “Driven by growth of our partner base, expansion of our delivery coverage and significant technological advancements, GTV growth further improved in H1 2024.
“We are well on track to achieve our guidance for the full year.”
Revenues have declined by 5.9% to €3.9bn at Kerry Group as the Irish supplier experienced pricing deflation of 4%.
Volumes in the taste & nutrition division increased 3.1% in the first half, while group volumes improved by 1.7%.
EBITDA for the six months to June increased 6.6% to €552m.
Kerry also upgraded profit expectations for the year on the back of the performance.
“CEO Edmond Scanlon said: “We are pleased to report a good performance across the first half of the year.
“Taste & nutrition volume growth was led by strong performances in the foodservice channel across all three regions, as we continue to support established foodservice chains evolve and develop their businesses, while working with emerging leaders to upscale their operations and offerings. Volume growth in the retail channel was driven by good performances in the Americas and APMEA, led by very strong growth in snack applications with Kerry’s leading range of savoury taste profiles and Tastesense® salt-reduction technologies.”
The FTSE 100 rose 1.3% to 8,378.54pts this morning.
Shares in Danone jumped 4.7% to €61.58, while Kerry climbed 5.2% to €86.30 and Just Eat soared 9.4% to 1,000.5p.
Yesterday in the City
The FTSE 100 slipped by 0.1% to 8,284.10pts yesterday.
Shares sank by 4.7% to 2,428p at Diageo as the Guinness and Johnnie Walker maker suffered an ongoing hangover in its Latin American business, which contributed to heavy falls in sales and profits in the year to June.
Greggs shrugged off a difficult consumer backdrop as it outlined more new store openings and soaring first-half profits to send shares up 5.3% to 3,090p.
AG Barr also climbed 2% to 642.4p after a positive first-half trading update.
No comments yet