Food products company Danone has reported a significant up tick in consolidated sales revenue in its latest financial results.
In the third quarter of 2023, consolidated sales stood at €6.9 billion, up 6.2% on a like-for-like basis, led by an increase of 6.6% from price, and a sequential improvement of volume/mix, down -0.3%.
On a reported basis, sales decreased by 5.8%, mainly penalised by the strong negative impact from forex (-7.4%), reflecting the depreciation of the majority of currencies against the euro.
Reported sales were also penalised by a negative effect from scope (-6.2%), mainly resulting from the deconsolidation of EDP Russia operations starting from July 2023.
Finally, hyperinflation contributed positively to reported sales (+1.8%).
Danone sales by region and brand
In the third quarter, Europe sales were up 5.1% on a like-for-like basis, with price up 9.2% and volume/mix down 4.1%.
In EDP (essential dairy and plant-based), the portfolio transformation starts delivering results, with notably a solid performance of Actimel, Danone, YoPro and Alpro brands, the company stated.
Specialised Nutrition delivered resilient growth, while Waters registered further market shares gains, in a category penalised by poor weather conditions during the summer season.
In North America, sales were up 3.9% on a like-for-like basis, led by price up 4.0% and resilient volume/mix (-0.2%).
The performance was supported by the continued strong growth of Coffee Creations and Yogurts, led by International Delight, Stok and Oikos brands.
China, North Asia and Oceania posted sales growth of 8.4% on a like-for-like basis, driven by volume/mix up 7.3%, and price up 1.2%.
In China, Specialised Nutrition pursued its revenue mix rebalancing; in Infant Nutrition, Aptamil delivered another quarter of solid performance, with continued market share gains, while Medical Nutrition further strengthened.
In Waters, Mizone registered robust growth during peak season, confirming its turnaround.
Outside China, EDP sales delivered mid-teens growth and market share gains in Japan, led by functional brands.
Latin America posted sales growth of 8.2% on a like-for-like basis, with a 10% increase in price and a 1.8% decline in volume/mix, with a broad-based growth across all geographies and
categories.
In the rest of the world, sales were up 9.7% on a like-for-like basis, driven by price up 7.7% and
volume/mix up 1.9%, notably led by Specialised Nutrition in South-East Asia and India.
CEO statement
Danone CEO, Antoine de Saint-Affrique stated: “18 months after the launch of Renew Danone, the benefits of our strategy are starting to show.
“We maintain our focus on addressing our underperformers and investing with discipline behind our winners.
In China, Mizone is now posting several quarters of strong competitive growth. With EDP Europe, we continue to make sequential progress with the significant transformation we initiated in Q3 last year,” he added.
“This is now starting to generate results. In Medical Nutrition we have made several investments which expand our capacity and increase the reach of our portfolio.”
The CEO said that Danone continues to view its future with confidence, despite a challenging environment.
We raise our full year guidance and now expect to deliver like-for-like sales growth between +6% and +7%,” he continued.
“We will also keep deploying consistently our business model and will further increase our reinvestments behind brands and innovation.”
