Swiss chocolate products manufacturer Barry Callebaut has reported that its net profit for the fiscal year 2011/12 declined 8.5% to CHF241.1m ($255.49m), compared to CHF263.6m ($279.34m) in the same period the previous year, due to higher financing expenses and a less favourable tax mix.
Sales revenue increased 8.3% to CHF4.82bn ($5.10bn), compared to CHF4.45bn ($4.71bn) in 2011, while sales volume rose by 8.7% to 1,378,856t - up from 1,268,925t last year.
Barry Callebaut CEO Juergen Steinemann said that the company experienced strong volume growth and that overall business activity was solid both in developed and emerging markets.
Factors such as investments in factories, structures, Gourmet business and sustainable cocoa, as well as ramp-up costs linked to various partnership agreements, affected the bottom-line results, Steinemann added.
In Europe, Barry Callebaut saw sales volume increase by 6.9% to 688,203t despite challenging market conditions, due to speciality products, outsourcing contracts, and overall market share gains.
Sales revenue in the region increased 0.2% to CHF2.15bn ($2.27bn), while operating profit (EBIT) declined 5.1% to CHF232m ($245.85m), due to costs linked to outsourcing agreements, as well as higher factory and supply chain costs.
In the Americas region, sales volume increased 15.3% to 361,819t, driven by the company's Gourmet & Specialties Products and Food Manufacturers businesses, which saw double-digit growth rates.
Sales revenue increased 13.5% to CHF1.11bn ($1.17bn), while operating profit increased 25.6% to CHF90.2m ($95.58m), due to strong performance of the Gourmet business and increased capacity utilisation.
In the Asia Pacific region, sales volume grew 10.3% to 57,815t, due to the Food Manufacturers Products business and Gourmet business, led by its global brands Callebaut and Cacao Barry.
Sales revenue increased 4.7% to CHF232.4m ($246.27m), while operating profit soared 19.3% to CHF29.7m ($31.47m), due to improved capacity utilisation.
For the next fiscal year, the company plans to finalise various investments in capacities and structures in order to achieve profitable growth.
Barry Callebaut has stood by its mid-term guidance of, on average, 6%-8% growth in volume and EBIT until 2014-15.
