French food and drink group, Danone, has reported a “strong” performance in the first half of 2024 (H1) with net sales reaching nearly €13.8 billion, up 4% on a like-for-like basis.
The company, whose portfolio of brands include Aptamil, Evian and Activa yoghurt, said the performance was as a result of a 2.1% increase in volumes and growth across each of its categories.
Danone said that prices increased by 2% during the first six months of 2024.
The latest financial results show that consolidated sales in the second quarter of the year (Q2) stood at €6.9 billion, also up 4% on a like-for-like basis, driven by a 2.9% increase in sales and 1% price rise.
Danone’s recurring operating income for the first half of 2024 was €1.75 billion, up marginally (0.7%) on the same period in the previous year.
Danone
In the second quarter, Danone said that sales in Europe were up +0.7% on a like-for-like basis to €2.4 billion, due to good performances from the Actimel, Alpro and YoPro brands, despite residual shipment disruptions.
During the first six months of the year, sales in the region rose by 1.7% on a like-for-like basis to €4.7 billion.
In North America, sales were up 5% on a like-for-like basis in Q2, led by 4.4% growth in volume.
Danone said that China, North Asia and Oceania delivered +8.4% like-for-like sales growth, with volume/mix up +9.4% and price down -1%.
The company said that specialized nutrition maintained its “continued competitive momentum” in China in both infant and medical nutrition.
Commenting on the financial results, Antoine de Saint-Affrique, Danone chief executive, said that the group 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,” he said.
Danone has confirmed its guidance for this year with expected like-for-like sales growth between 3% and 5%, with moderate improvement in recurring operating margin.
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