egion's leading confectionary companies, Cloetta, posted a steady rise in Q4 sales this week.For the fourth quarter of 2013 profit after tax rose to SEK186m (€21 million), from SEK155m a year earlier. Operating profit almost doubled from SEK82 million in the last three months of 2012 to SEK175 million.
Net sales rose 2.6% to SEK1441 million.
Cloetta, which makes products sold in over 50 different countries, said that it hopes to plough revenue back into the company by way of acquisitions and extinguishing debts.
The firm still has a net debt of SEK 3.2 billion (€365 billion) after its €730 million merger with Dutch confectioner Leaf in early 2012.
"Our aim is to use future cash flow for continued amortization of our bank loans, while at the same time allowing for complimentary acquitsitions," said Cloetta CEO Bengt Baron.
"It is satisfying that during the quarter the company increased both sales and operating profit. Profit before and after tax and earnings per share also rose while the net debt/underlying EBITDA ratio decreased. This demonstrates that Cloetta is on the right track," Baron said.
