Danone upbeat after strong Q1 | Progresiv
Danone has reiterated its forecast of reporting full-year sales and profit growth, after reporting better-than-expected figures for its fiscal first quarter. 
For the quarter, sales were down 3% to 5.31 billion euros, hurt by currency fluctuations, although like-for-like sales were up 3.5%. Volume growth was recorded at 0.8%, while value sales were up 2.7%.
The group’s Fresh Dairy unit saw sales drop 4.7% to 2.68 billion euros (+2.3% LFL), even as volumes declined by 2.1%. The Waters unit recorded a 4.2% decrease to 1.02 billion euros (+3.9% LFL), although volumes were up 6.4%. The Early Life Nutrition unit reported a 0.5% sales increase to €1.23bn (+4.8% LFL), on 1.3% volume growth; and the Medical Nutrition unit saw sales grow by 1.2% to 384 million euros (+6.6% LFL), with volumes up 5.2%.
The results were boosted by strong growth in North America, solid results in Mexico and Argentina, and improvement in Europe. However, conditions remained tough in key markets such as China, Russia, and Brazil.
CEO Emmanuel Faber noted that the results came despite tough market conditions, including in Europe, plus the impact of food safety scares in Asia. Danone also reiterated its full-year forecast for like-for-like sales growth of 3% to 5%, and operating profit margin to grow from last year’s 12.91%. (www.kamcity.com)
